Mrs. Nesselhuf honored as 2009 Woman of Excellence

Mrs. Nesselhuf honored as 2009 Woman of Excellence Diane Nesselhuf was recognized as a Woman of Excellence March 24 at the annual Women Award's Banquet The award acknowledged Mrs. Nesselhuf's work in organizing  and directing East High's Academic Enhancement Center, the Hispanic Parent Organization, and her mission work Sharing the Dream Guatemala. The Enhancement Center at EHS started when Mrs. Nesselhuf  began researching high school dropouts in the district and what might prevent them from dropping out. She began staying a couple of hours late each day to work with students at risk and found that, given some individual help and attention, they could succeed. Mrs. Nesselhuf began seeing more students, picking them up and delivering them at home if they needed rides, and recruiting like-minded teachers to assist more students; and more of them succeeded! Her relational style of interacting with students often leads her to grab a camera and spend an hour after school taking many photos of a student who was going to by-pass senior pictures because of the cost. She cares about kids! Helping students receive academic assistance, build relationships, develop education plans, access community services, or just get needed school materials are all part of the services she offers East High students. In addition to her work at East High, Mrs. Nesselhuf has devoted her life to helping women of Guatemala improve their quality of life. Helping them market their crafts at fair-trade prices and assisting the area orphanage obtain financing has grown from a one-woman operation to a national operation with a budget of over $200,000. She not only volunteers approximately 20 hours per week to oversee this work, but also travels to Guatemala two to three times a year to coordinate the work there…at her own expense.