Photo courtesy of Perry High School Principal Brad Snowgren

Three faculty members from the Perry Community School District were recently recognized by the University of Northern Iowa with a new award named after longtime High School Principal Dan Marburger.

Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention honored four individuals with the debut Dan Marburger Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Advocacy Awards. According to Director Alysa Mozak, Marburger was a champion of the MVP Strategies program as he exemplified the qualities through his words and actions. She explains that she knew Dan personally and that his daughter Ainsley attended UNI and has been an MVP Ambassador for over three years.

Mozak outlines the award recognizes a team and individual who have positive impacts on their community and share the same passion for violence prevention that Dan did. The individual who received the award was Jenny Wagner from Kennedy High School, and the team award went to the Perry School District, specifically with Secondary Instructional Coach Allisa Bahney, High School Language Arts Teacher Christine Krohn, and High School Counselor Tami Valline. Bahney tells Raccoon Valley Radio that it was nice for Perry to be honored for the award.

“Dan would be so proud to know that our school’s hard work is being acknowledged, that our students are continuing to choose to do the right thing by being active bystanders, and his absence is felt every day and he’s deeply missed, but his legacy of compassionate leadership will carry on at Perry High School.”

Mozak mentions she was saddened to hear the news of Dan’s passing in 2024 following the school shooting that occurred and asked permission from Ainsley if they could find a way to celebrate the wonderful human he was.

Photos courtesy of Director for Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention Alysa Mozak