This week hundreds attended an annual Springfield Public Schools celebration to recognize some of the wonderful individuals and organizations making an outsize impact in Missouri’s largest school district.
Good Dads was honored to be among the ten organizations recognized as “District Partners in Excellence” for our Good Dads Strong Schools program, a volunteer-run initiative focused on before-school breakfast activities for students and their dads or father-figures.
The program welcomes dads into the students’ schools, offers a low-tech opportunity for connection in the family unit—like making paper airplanes or illustrating their own books. At the same time, the program focuses on building social capital among fathers, who are historically less likely to be involved in their students’ educations compared to mothers.
“We were among great company,” said Dr. Jennifer L. Baker, Good Dads founder and director, who was present at the event at the Barley House event venue in North Springfield. Others who earned the Partners in Excellence distinction included Boys & Girls Clubs, Centerstone (a mental health services provider), Sense of Price, Care to Learn, Jordan Valley Health, and others.
The Partner of the Year award for the 2025–2026 school year went to Crosslines. Partners in Excellence, as well as SPS’s volunteer-of-the-year distinctions, are decided by a committee each year.
Alongside Baker was Strong Schools director Dr. Mike Dawson, who retired last year from Branson’s school district administration; Jim Millsap, a retired principal and Strong Schools Captain; and Dan Emrie, a retired photographer and longtime Good Dads Strong Schools volunteer.
Good Dads Strong Schools is present in 40+ schools across the state, including many Springfield elementaries:
- Bissett
- Cowden
- Disney
- Hickory Hills
- Holland
- McGregor
- Pittman
- Truman
- Watkins
- Weaver
- Weller
- York
Find out more about Good Dads Strong Schools on the Good Dads website.
