Neenah High School’s Arete Academy held its third annual Heroes Ceremony on Friday and honored Bob Totten and Erin Stoffel for their contributions to the Neenah community.
Totten taught history at Neenah High School for 32 years and has been a longtime coach in the District, guiding teams for over 125 sports seasons at all levels from middle school to varsity. Stoffel was a survivor of the Trestle Bridge shooting in 2015 and helped guide her two children and other individuals to safety after her husband, John, and daughter, Olivia, were tragically killed.
Arete Academy students wrote and read essays about each of the two honorees as Tyler Jankowski spoke about Totten and Dre Owens delivered an essay about Stoffel. Totten was introduced by former teacher and coach Bill McBride and Stoffel was introduced by friend Steve Ullmer. State representative Mike Rohrkaste offered opening remarks and educational reformer Oliver Schinkten gave a closing statement. Both talked about what it means to be a hero. Arete Academy students Blake Gruett and Miriam Ducommun served as emcees.
Both inductees offered insightful remarks for the students and community members in attendance. Totten spoke about how respect isn’t something that should be earned, but should be immediately granted to everyone. Stoffel talked about facing fears and offering forgiveness and how wonderful life can be.
The Arete Academy is a project-based learning initiative for freshmen and sophomores where students learn all four core areas through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems with hands-on learning and projects.
The honorees are displayed on plaques on a Heroes Tree outside the cafeteria.
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