Academies of Grand Island Senior High Announce 2025 Partner Award Winners
GRAND ISLAND (Neb.) — It takes a collaborative community to enhance student learning experiences and support them toward future success.
The Academies of Grand Island Senior High is proud to announce Olsson as the 2025 Business Partner of the Year and Brook Brown with Holiday Express Bus as the 2025 Community Partner of the Year. High school administrators recently visited the workplaces of both honorees to present the awards, recognizing their exceptional contributions to student learning and workforce development.
The Business Partner of the Year award celebrates a business that goes above and beyond in providing learning opportunities for GISH students. The Community Partner of the Year award recognizes a community partner who exemplifies the mission of the Academies of Grand Island Senior High.
2025 Business Partner of the Year: Olsson
Michala Soundy, Academy Experiences Liaison at GISH, commended Olsson's long-standing commitment, as they have partnered with the high school on an internship program.
"The partnership with Olsson is entering its fourth year, and during this time, our students have received invaluable learning experiences that will help them as they continue their education," Soundy stated.
At Olsson, GISH students gain valuable experiences in the engineering field, furthering the learning they receive in the Academy and pathway classes.
"The team at Olsson extends patience, serving as mentors and teachers to each intern. This internship is typically the first experience working in a professional setting, and Olsson truly immerses the interns as part of the team,” Soundy added. “Our goal is to provide valuable learning experiences while building professional relationships with our youth in hopes of continuing to build our future workforce. Olsson exemplifies that goal by providing a wonderful internship program," she said.
Jeff Palik, Greater Nebraska Office Leader for Olsson, echoed Soundy’s sentiment, highlighting the mutual benefits of the partnership.
"This partnership allows Olsson to expose these students to the engineering career with real-world experiences," Palik said. "Hopefully, they enjoy these experiences so much that they decide to pursue it as a long-term career and, ideally, they decide to come back to Olsson after graduation, and possibly even stay in Grand Island.”
One of the objectives of the Academies’ internship and apprenticeship programs is to bring former students back to Grand Island, said DW Holley, principal of the GISH Academy of Technical Sciences. He said the positive culture at Olsson has contributed to bringing back former students and keeping our students working in the community.
“Olsson has been a great partnership from day one. They truly see our students as learners and themselves as teachers,” Holley shared. “Their collaboration has helped grow the skills our students need to flourish in the Engineering and Architectural Fields.”
Palik mentioned that the partnership has been successful, and the students play an important role in that.
“The students that we have hired have been very bright, hardworking individuals. They almost immediately contribute to our workload, which frees up some of our full-time employees to work on other projects,” Palik confirmed.
GISH Principal Calvin Hubbard thanked Olsson for their support of Islander students and of the community.
“Congratulations to Olsson and Associates, our Business Partner of the Year, for their outstanding internship program and continued support of Grand Island Senior High students. Their reliability and dedication are truly appreciated,” Hubbard said.
Palik reciprocated the sentiment, adding that Olsson plays only one part in the bigger picture and teamwork is key.
“Olsson is honored to receive this award and grateful to be recognized for years of participation in this great program. We play a very small part and are thankful for all the administrators and other businesses that make this so successful," Palik added.
2025 Community Partner of the Year: Brook Brown, Holiday Express Bus
Brook Brown of Holiday Express Bus has been mentoring GISH students in diesel mechanics through the apprenticeship program. However, he doesn’t only mentor students about job skills, he mentors them on life skills as well, said DW Holley.
“Brook is the complete package when it comes to mentorship of apprentices,” Holley mentioned. “He will often coach students on college advice, handling their senior year, and general life skills.”
He added that Brooks is always available to meet with students and gives back by serving as a panelist for the GISH Junior Internship Day.
Soundy also praised Brook Brown's dedication to student apprentices at Holiday Express Bus.
"Brook is a great mentor and teacher to our apprentices," Soundy noted. "Brook meets the apprentice where they are at in their learning journey. He extends patience and encourages the apprentices when they are having challenges."
Brook expressed his humility and pride in the program.
"Receiving this award is humbling, but it’s secondary to the program that works for Holiday Express and our employees," Brook said. "Finding people to work in a garage isn’t just a matter of knowing how to service a vehicle. It’s about working as a team and taking pride in a product that is going to take students safely to and from school,” he continued, “I’ve always been proud of the program. I enjoy watching students develop. I tell the story that some apprentices come in not having any knowledge at all. We start them on oil changes and improve their skills from there. It’s always fun to look back on how far they’ve come once they’re doing more complex work."
Principal Hubbard said he is thankful for leaders like Brook to support students.
“Thank you to Brook Brown, our Community Partner of the Year, for being an incredible mentor and teacher to GISH apprentices,” Hubbard shared. “Your guidance has made a lasting impact.”
Mick Brown, Brook’s father and owner of Holiday Express Bus, emphasized the company's commitment to the community.
"Holiday Express is a third-generation, family-run company with deep roots serving Central Nebraska," he stated. "We are part of the community and have a deep interest in improving the workforce of Grand Island, and this is one small way to accomplish that. Not only does it give us a chance to train the mechanics we need for today, but, hopefully, this work has ripple effects community-wide. It’s always nice to be recognized and, hopefully, it will give students interested in the field a sense of possibility."
The Academies of Grand Island Senior High continue to foster strong relationships with local businesses and community members to provide students with invaluable real-world experiences and prepare them for future success.
Thank you to our community partners, and congratulations to Olsson and to Brook Brown for being our Partners of the Year!
