Goodrich Scholars Visit Beatrice, NE
RURAL EXCURSIONS
Over a Decade of Learning about Nebraska
In summer 2024, twelve Goodrich Scholars and three members of Goodrich’s faculty/staff visited Beatrice, NE in order to serve the local community while learning about the town’s cultural history. The primary focus was on Weldon Kees, the celebrated poet and painter who was originally from Beatrice and disappeared mysteriously in 1955, but students also learned about homesteading at nearby Homestead Historical Park, also giving back through a service learning experience by mulching at the park. In addition, to help the town, some students assisted with Main Street Beatrice’s annual fundraiser while the others built a puppet theater in Weldon Kees’s honor at the Gage County Historical Museum. The weekend was a raucous good time that included some great meals, scary movies and some roller skating at a local rink.
The summer experience brought back a tradition of rural excursions for Goodrich. The Goodrich Scholarship Program had visited towns throughout Nebraska, most recently Elmwood, where they learned about best-selling author Bess Streeter Aldrich. Before that, Goodrich visited Central City to learn about the life and work of Wright Morris, an award-winning writer and photographer, Bancroft to learn about John G. Neihardt, Nebraska’s Poet Laureate in Perpetuity and author of Black Elk Speaks.The rural excursions began in 2013 when Goodrich visited Red Cloud, home of Willa Cather. These service learning experiences work to enlarge scholars’ sense of place through first hand experiences with the culturally vibrant, rural regions of their home state.