Bob Boyd: Preparing kids for eternity

[APRIL 8, 2000]   He thought he would become a lawyer, but after a try at student teaching, Bob Boyd was hooked. And for the past 21 years, he’s been working in what he refers to as “the best of both worlds.” That’s because as principal at Zion Lutheran School, Boyd has the opportunity to educate children while integrating faith.  “My goal is to prepare kids for the future,” he says. “That future includes eternity."

Since 1991, Boyd has worked as both a teacher and principal at Zion Lutheran. He’s at the office at 6:30 a.m. and often doesn’t leave until after 5 p.m. He juggles a hectic schedule, which includes teaching math and science and performing daily administrative duties. But despite the heavy load of responsibilities, Boyd also finds time to eat lunch with the fifth through eighth graders. Why? “It’s important to know every kid in the school,” he explains. “If you spend most of your time in the office, you don’t know what it’s like on the front lines.”

 Boyd says he sees his work as not just a job but a ministry. He enjoys having a part in both the academic and spiritual development of a child and helping them “grow and live their faith.” This is accomplished, he explains, through the daily integration of faith into the academic lessons. Teachers instruct students academically, but also teach them to apply a Christian world view to their studies. “There is also a tone of mutual respect and love,” he adds, explaining that problems and issues are addressed in a Christ-like way. “It’s a life skill,” he says.

 
[Principal Bob Boyd confers with 
teachers Peggy Miller and Pat Baker.]

 

 

 

 

Loving children, says Boyd, is an essential part of his job. Each morning, he and the staff participate in devotions to prepare for the day. He considers the staff an integral part of his work in the lives of children. “We have the same goal,” he explains, adding, “[Students] know that the teacher’s love for them is unconditional.”

And Boyd’s love for his ministry and the children is evident. In June, he will complete the school year at Zion Lutheran School, and move on to work at changing the lives of children in another school. “Lincoln has been a wonderful place to live,” he says.  “I’m going to miss it.”

 


It’s a dot com world

[APRIL 6, 2000]  Take a step back in time…it’s January of the year 2000, the new millennium. After a dot com Christmas season, we get a dot com Super Bowl. Everybody wants to be part of the dot com world. Enter Lincoln Daily News, demonstrating that Logan County has safely advanced into the dawning era.

The proprietors of LDN, not a journalist among them, arrest their giddy anticipation of "Gates-esque" profits in time to get some competent help. First they reach out to the best writer they know within the confines of Logan County, and bring Mary Krallmann on board. Whew! Now they have someone who knows the difference between a lead sentence and a leaden sentence.

Next they attract a managing editor, Natalie Jeckel, who brings a down-to-business ethic, a lifetime of Logan County contacts and a willingness to postpone more traditional (read "secure and promising") career routes to "light this candle." Her first day on the job she discovers that there is no office, no staff and no publication. So she takes her place in a drafty back room, plugs in a computer and starts fleshing out the skeleton of a business plan her employers have drafted on a napkin. (That’s not exactly how it happened, but it makes a good story.)

 


[Natalie and Katherine confer on the day's news.]

 

Now all LDN needs is . . . well, someone who can put the written articles on a website. Enter Tyler Havlin, an 19-year-old self-described computer geek (he’s too big for anyone else to describe him such). With the whiff of Seattle still clinging to his plaid flannels, Tyler begins streaming together lines of code.

 

But who will write the stories? How about Katherine Heller, a graduate of Youngstown State University, with a degree in professional writing and editing and experience on a newspaper staff? Wow, a real journalist! Katherine sets to work crafting character sketches of some of Logan County’s real characters.

But who will write the other stories? Here we will leave the details to this story’s sequel, because a whole raft of writers emerged from the shadows to prove that if you scratch Logan County you find pure talent. From every walk of life they come, writing about the aspects of this country county that they know best. Ain’t this fun?

So now to the crux of the matter. It’s April, LDN is pumping out daily stories about its friends and neighbors, and Natalie gets a call from that big insurance company in Bloomington. Who wouldn’t want to lure away a young woman with Natalie’s talents. Thursday staff meetings will not be the same without Natalie’s itemized list of topics for review (as well as her witty repartee, always signaled by a twinkle in her eye and a winsome upturn of a lip). Who will eat the last donut on Saturday morning, after the last link has been checked? Who will run to the courthouse to take a picture of the spelling bee champion? Who will channel the enthusiasm of that stable of talented writers?

Well, it’s a dot com world, and businesses must be agile. Katherine Heller, takes the helm. She has the ability. She is also a graduate student at Lincoln Christian Seminary and a communications director for the Academic Development Institute. She juggles her schedule. She sleeps less. She gives up lunch. It’s a dot com world.

So good-bye, Natalie. We guarantee that you will someday look back from the executive suite of State Farm and remember fondly that little dot com you helped birth back in the first days of the new millennium. And Natalie, don’t be afraid to send us a story sometime. You know what it’s like when you are on deadline and news has been a little slow in our fair land.

[Sam Redding]

 


Back to top

 


 

Top Stories | Sports Talk | Weather

A Day in the Life | Milestones | Obituaries | Diaspora

Business & Ag | Organizations & Events | Good Neighbors | Honors & Awards | Ombudsman | Law & Courts

Crosswords | Hearsay & Hairspray |

The Arts | Family Life | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Teaching & Learning | Book Look | Movies & Videos

the em space | Where They Stand | How We Stack Up | By the Numbers

Letters to Editor | About LDN | Corrections | Happy Ads | Classified Ads