In addition to being a former Peace Corps volunteer and a farmer, Stan Bergkamp has been a chemistry and physics teacher at Maize High School in Maize, Kansas, for nearly 30 years. In 2005 he was honored with the national Milken Educator Award for furthering excellence in education. And in 2018 Bergkamp started a solar energy project that has been saving the Maize School District more than $30,000 a year in energy costs.
With this solar project in mind, Stan Bergkamp has published the book he wrote after his father died, a book he had intended to read to his nephews and nieces so they too could learn some of the lessons his father taught him. Loopie, the Spirit of a Cow Dog is a picture book for kids, but those reading or being read to aren’t the only benefactors. Bergkamp is giving all proceeds of the book's sales to the Maize Solar Foundation.
I recently spoke with Stan Bergkamp about all of this, and I took a little field trip for my own science lesson. Here's our conversation.
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Stan Bergkamp will be at Watermark Books on Saturday, November 26th at 10:00 am and again at 1:00 pm for an in-store storytime in Watermark's Author Gallery, followed by a book signing. Find more details here.
The book can also be available at Woodard Mercantile. There will be a book signing at their Maize Road location on Saturday, December 3rd from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.
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Loopie: The Spirit of a Cow Dog by Stan Bergkamp and illustrated by Julia Gonzalez was published by Mennonite Press.
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Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita.
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