Rod and Shannon Wittmer selected for Chamber Hall of Fame
Rod and Shannon Wittmer of Holton have their backgrounds in education, and it’s important to them to use and share the lessons they’ve learned along the way, particularly when it comes to getting involved in the community and passing that passion for involvement to the next generation.
“In my speeches at school, we always talked about the things our community does for our student population, for our activities and our events,” says Rod, who served as Holton High School Principal for 13 years. “When those kids graduate and become members of the community, they need to remember that, so they can come back and give to the next generation that’s coming through.”
It’s his work at HHS, encouraging young people to give back to their community, coupled with Shannon’s work in developing the Holton Community Theatre into a destination for local entertainment, that has resulted in the Wittmers joining the Holton/Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame this coming February, an honor they accept with humility.
“The things we do, I think Rod and I both — and the other honorees as well, I’m sure — we don’t do them to be honored,” said Shannon, referring to this year’s other Hall of Fame honorees, including Pat and Nancy Fontaine, Beth Nelson and Dennis and Joni White.
“We’ve never looked at our community involvement as being a criterion for anything, other than as a means to connect with the kids at school outside of school, and for them to see you in a different light,” Rod added. “And it wasn’t only for the kids to see you in a different light, but also for you to connect with their parents in a different atmosphere that’s not a relationship between them and an administrator, coach or teacher.”
The Wittmers came to the Holton area in the summer of 2010, when Rod accepted the job of HHS principal. For him, it was a return to the region where he grew up — he had been raised on “a multi-purpose farm” just west of Bern in neighboring Nemaha County and graduated from Bern High School in 1987, then headed off to Emporia State University.
Shannon, on the other hand, grew up in the southeast Kansas community of Oswego, where her father was the elementary school principal. After graduating from Oswego High School in 1990, she attended Labette Community College, then went to Wichita State University for a year before transferring to Pittsburg State University, where Rod continued his studies after graduating from ESU — and where the two of them met.
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