Lawrence Schools Foundation held their 23rd annual Community Education Breakfast on Friday, Sept. 26. The event welcomed community leaders, members, business partners and elected officials to celebrate the 2025-2026 school year.

LSF celebrated 40 years since its founding by raising money for the school district. Executive Director Dena Johnston said this event alone raised a record breaking $100,000.

Additionally, seniors Aidan Murray and Sara Kumar were awarded the Student Champion Award for their involvement within their school community. While Kumar had briefly heard of it, she said she was completely surprised when she received an email for the award.

“[The award] is recognizing all of the work that gets put into the school. It shows their work, and it highlights some students that are involved,” Kumar said.

After Kumar and Murray were recognized, guest speaker and 2001 Free State alumnus Jerod Neider spoke on his journey of founding Positively Paralyzed, a social media platform focused on educating and inspiring people living with paralysis. At the Community Breakfast, Neider said the Lawrence Schools Foundation is important not only to the school district, but to those with disabilities.

“I’m very fortunate that I didn’t have to deal with this injury till I was out of school. But dealing with this in high school would have been incredibly challenging,” Neider said. “Finances are a big key to accessibility, and if somebody can’t afford something, then that’s not accessible. That’s its own form of disability.”

Neider said he challenges those in the school district to help those with disabilities.

“If I can challenge my fellow students to make it better for people with disabilities, just saying hi, reaching out, things that are very normal and human can really go a long way,” Neider said.