Numerous National Merit Scholars: 14 semi-finalists and 4 finalists
5 Perfect ACT Scores
1 US Congressional Gold Youth Medal: the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States Congress recognizing distinguished achievements and contributions to American history and culture
1 Student Poet Ambassador for State of Iowa
2 Elementary Student "Best of Show" Awards for NASA's Plant the Moon Challenge
3 Bronze Medal Congressional Awards
1 GE-Reagan Scholar: nationwide scholarship program for seniors that showcase leadership, drive, integrity, and citizenship
CAPS Program: started in 2017 with 13 student associates as the first and only CAPS program in Iowa, the program has grown to roughly 240 student associates in the 2025-2026 school year spanning 6 different industry sector experiences and has grown across the Cedar Valley and the state of Iowa to approximately 20 CAPS programs serving rural and urban school districts
U.S. News & World Report’s Elementary Best Schools: ALL Cedar Falls Schools elementary buildings have earned top honors! Schools ranked in the top 40% nationally achieved status as U.S. News Best High Schools and gained eligibility to display U.S. News-trademarked 2023-2024 Best High Schools award badges.
Numerous Rocket Club Awards: Judges Choice, Best Rocket, STEM Engagement, and many more
CFHS Jazz One: 2 State Jazz Championships
FRC 525 Swartdogs: Chairman's Award and qualified for FIRST World Championship
Science Team: Iowa Science Bowl title and National Science Bowl appearance
JH Science Club: 1st place at Iowa Science Olympiad
Bowling: 1st-ever Individual Men's State Title
Women's Rugby: 2 State Championships
Men's Rugby: 1 State Championship
Doubles Tennis: State Champions
Fishing Team: Iowa High School Bass Team Championship Runners-up
Men's Golf: Individual State Championship
Co-ed Golf: State Championship
Softball: 1st-ever State Championship Appearance
Men's Track: Individual and Team Championships
Women's Track: Numerous awards and championships
Men's XC: State Championship,
Women's XC:
Women's Swimming: 200 Medley, Individual State Championships
Volleyball: State Championship Runners-up
Approved investing in a new ELA curriculum enabling more structure and cohesion, based on the Science of Reading, with high literary value:
Approved investing in a new Science curriculum with a high focus on hands-on and interactive learning.
Note: I want to make it clear that the Board of Education does not CHOOSE curricula. These were multi-year, highly-collaborative, bottom-up processes with teachers across the district highly-involved in evaluating and making recommendations to administration. The board ultimately has to approve the curriculum and the cost of it. I am thankful for the commitment of the committee of teachers that made this so successful, and this is a win for our families and the community.
Annual board policy updates aligned to Iowa legislation
Cell Phone policy eliminating the distractions of cell phones during instructional time throughout the day
Note: The board is a governance board, not an activist board. We primarily take recommendations from our superintendent as the "Chief Executive" of the district, and discourage policy changes that are personally or politically driven. We do our best to trust the leadership that we have put in place as well as legal counsel to advise on proper, legal policy updates.
Elementary kitchen upgrades to improve on-site food prep and nutrition options: Effectively bringing all elementary school kitchens to a consistent level
New High School campus: oversaw the completion of a ≈6-year project from bond referendum to move-in. This is a state-of-the-art campus, beautifully-designed with lots of natural lighting and thoughtful security features. It was built in a highly-accessible area, and will serve the community for 70+ years.
New 14-lane Olympic Pool: financed with a very responsible partnership between the City of Cedar Falls, the District, and the "Jump In" fundraising committee, this gives our swim community access to world-class swim facilities and is available to the community 70% of the time, managed through Cedar Falls Recreation Center.
Scheels Tiger Performance Center: financed by the TPC fundraising committee and some Federal grants, this offers many athletic and extracurricular groups on-site access to a world-class performance center for training, meets, etc. The Board has approved "Phase 1" of this building, which is in process. With the late receival of a generous Federal grant, the Board was able to approve a change order to add full concrete floor and translucent panels, which accelerates the completion of this facility immensely.
Roof maintenance & tuck-pointing: while perhaps more on the "boring" side of things, the Board approves and authorizes annual building maintenance items. The Board oversaw a "10-yr PPEL (Property, Plant, and Equipment Levy) Plan", responsibly allocating resources to ensure long-term sustainability.
Old HS Sale: while certain aspects of this process were contentious, in the end, the school board salvaged almost $3M for the taxpayers in the disposition of the old HS.