Nelsons start fund to give La Crosse teachers a classroom boost

A La Crosse area couple with more than 70 years experience as public educators is giving back to the community through a new endowment. 

Randy and Lynn Nelson aim to promote more physical fitness, servant leadership and empathy among students and teachers in La Crosse. 

Randy Nelson was La Crosse School’s superintendent for nearly a decade, while Lynn Nelson taught physical education, recently in Rochester, Minn.

“This is a way for us,” Nelson said, “I think, to put an exclamation point on our own careers by providing some funds that we can make available to teachers in areas that we have seen in our career as really important, and as important staples for us to move our careers forward, but also move communities forward.”

Lynn Nelson wants to promote more outdoor activity for young people…”getting them out on the river, kayaking, canoeing, all those different things. And I’d like to see this grant provide some of those opportunities that maybe their normal budget could not.”