Last spring, Dr. Dan Holtz and I applied for a student enhancement grant and took students to western Nebraska, to Chadron, for a three-day road that featured the state's literary and natural history.
This past spring, Dr. Gina Bitner and I applied for a similar grant to take Education and English students to the Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival.
Circumstances precluded Gina's joining us, so I drove a van from Peru to Steward and the gathering at Concordia University that I have attended many times over the past twenty or so years.
The grant included the afternoon banquet, a shirt, and two books for each of the eight students.All the students got autographs from the many authors and illustrators in attendance, including keynote speaker Rosemary Wells, J. Patric Lewis, Nick Bruel, and Jack Gantos, all multiple prize-winning authors of children's literature.
Our day began with a presentation by Twyla Hanson, Nebraska's State Poet, who last February gave a reading at Peru State College, her first official reading as the state poet.
We all enjoyed such a good time that Gina and I will apply for another grant to take students to next year's Plum Creek Literacy Festival--a big one, for the festival celebrates its 20th year. 
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