A gift to this fund provides much needed general support for the college to assist areas and programs of greatest need.
A new chapter has begun in Jennifer Boldt’s life.
Boldt’s career began as a teacher, instructing music to elementary school students for nearly a decade. Then, she put teaching behind her to raise her two younger children.
When her youngest child began kindergarten, Boldt felt a longing to return to the classroom. Over the course of the next 13 years, she worked long- and short-term assignments as a substitute teacher.
Returning to teaching, coupled with a job opportunity in family and consumer science at Aspen Creek Middle School in Gretna, Nebraska, where she was working as a substitute, rekindled Boldt’s love for education.
“I never thought I would go back to teaching full time,” Boldt said. “I loved substitute teaching and never thought about going back to full time until my principal called me in and offered this opportunity.”
Today, Boldt is a full-time teacher and graduate student pursuing her master’s degree in family and consumer sciences education at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences.
The online courses offered through the college have provided Boldt the flexibility and support necessary to ease her concerns about returning to school as a student for the first time in over two decades.
“I had not taken a class in 25 years,” she said. “I was nervous about that and what would be involved. Luckily, my adviser was also my first professor, and she was great about answering all of my questions.”
Working in a classroom while balancing a 15-hour courseload is a difficult task on its own. However, Boldt would soon be challenged with a new hurdle to overcome.
In February 2025, Boldt was diagnosed with stage 3C breast cancer. Over the course of the next year, she would undergo 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation.
Today, Boldt said she feels healthy, hopeful and supported thanks to the community she has found at Aspen Creek Middle School and within CEHS.
“It gave me something else to focus on besides the cancer,” Boldt said. “It gave me a reason to get up in the morning.”
As Boldt continues radiation treatments, she knows she can always rely on her instructors if she ever needs additional support.
“They have been great,” she said. “I’ve been offered extensions if I ever needed them. Luckily, I haven’t needed them and have really enjoyed the fact that what I’m studying directly relates to what I am teaching.”
Boldt said that support goes beyond the classroom. As a recipient of the Gwendolyn A. Newkirk Fellowship, she has been able to focus on her coursework without worrying about the additional cost of pursuing her degree.
“Obviously, going through cancer, I have a lot of medical bills to pay,” Boldt said. “To not have to worry about my tuition has been a huge blessing. It’s a weight off my shoulders.”
The success of students like Boldt is also fueled through donor support to the N Fund – College of Education and Human Sciences.
The fund provides programmatic support and general support to critical areas of the college, ensuring that students, faculty and staff have the resources needed to impact Nebraska’s next generation of learners.
“There’s nothing greater than investing in the future,” Boldt said. “When you invest in someone who is going into education, you are investing in the future because that’s what our children are.”
As Boldt looks across her own classroom, she sees that investment coming to life firsthand.
“I absolutely love it, and I love my kids,” Boldt said. “I know as I continue to take my classes in this program, it is just going to help me be a better family and consumer sciences educator.”
You can support Nebraska’s next generation of leaders by supporting the N Fund – College of Education and Human Sciences today.
