NCTA scholarship honors influential teacher Glenn Jurgens

March 29, 2017

By NCTA News                                                                                                              

Curtis, Neb. – A Curtis teacher who carried educational influence with many students is being honored with a scholarship to the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.

George Garlick, PhD, and his wife, Carol Garlick, have established the Glenn Jurgens Memorial Scholarship to be awarded annually in the amount of $1,000, announced Ron Rosati, NCTA dean.

“We greatly appreciate this scholarship which will benefit students who desire to achieve their educational goals at NCTA,” said Dean Ron Rosati.

 The Garlicks, of Richland, Washington, are benefactors of several significant gifts to NCTA and the Curtis community. Dr. Garlick admired the math teacher, student council advisor, and mentoring role of Mr. Jurgens.

“It is meaningful that Dr. Garlick is passing along goodwill and influence to young people as had been shared here in Curtis by Glenn Jurgens for five decades,” Rosati noted.

Scholarship applications are due by April 10.  Any Nebraska students with financial need and who will attend NCTA are eligible to apply.

Glenn John Jurgens taught mathematics to hundreds of students during his 49-year tenure in Curtis schools, starting in 1950 at the high school called the University of Nebraska School of Agriculture.

He also taught at the new Medicine Valley Public School system when the UNSA high school dissolved and joined college faculty at the University of Nebraska School of Technical Agriculture (UNSTA).

A campus yearbook paid tribute 51 years ago during the campus transition from high school to college.

“Glenn Jurgens … 17 years of faithful service, a true friend to every students, a foremost leader in the counseling of the Curtis Aggies, we the staff of the 1966 Curtis AGGIE proudly dedicate this book.” 

Glenn John Jurgens was born on November 4, 1921 and graduated from Moorefield High School.  He attended Kearney State College for one year, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and returned to Hastings College where he graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  He retired from teaching at NCTA in 1986, and died in 2014 at the age of 92.

“The respect that he received from students allowed him to be instrumental in encouraging them to seek higher education,” said Jon Schroeder, a Curtis attorney and member of the Glenn Jurgens Memorial Scholarship Committee.

It was through the efforts of Professor Jurgens that George Garlick was initially accepted at Hastings College on a work-study scholarship, Garlick shared with NCTA leaders in discussions to fund the annual award.

Garlick, a Curtis native who had Jurgens as his teacher and mentor, is co-founder of Advanced Imaging Technologies, Inc. He studied at Hastings College and went on to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering and solid state physics from Iowa State University.

Details on the Glenn Jurgens Memorial Scholarship are available from Tina Smith, NCTA admissions and recruiting coordinator, 1-800-3CURTIS or tsmith24@unl.edu.

Find the application at http://ncta.unl.edu/scholarships.