12th Annual Wall of Distinction Awards Banquet

Patsy Mooney grew up in Rogers and has made a lifelong effort to give back to her community. She attended Central Ward Elementary, now the location of Tillery Elementary, and later she went to Rogers Junior High School on the same campus after its conversion. A 1970 Rogers High School graduate, Mooney excelled as a Student Council officer, a cheerleader, and a class favorite. She earned an education degree at the University of Arkansas.

In 1974, Greer Lingle hired Mooney to teach a new program - elementary physical education. In 1977, she was recruited to be a cheerleading sponsor at Rogers High School and teach physical education. She also led the adaptive physical education program. In 1983, she began teaching health education, which she continued to teach until her retirement in 2018.

Mooney is known for going the extra mile for others. She started the girls' Fellowship of Christian Athletes club at RHS in 1983 and later sponsored both the boys and girls program until she retired.

Mooney has been a member of the downtown United Methodist Church since the age of 3 and is active in the Stephen Ministry and the Boomerang Joy women's group. Mooney volunteers at the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and Samaritan Center. She also serves on the board of the Friends of the Rogers Historical Museum.

Ed Prentice joined the Rogers School District in 1974. During his 28 years of teaching social studies in the Rogers Public Schools, he served in many leadership roles, including as chairman of the Rogers High School Social Studies Department, as a member of a district superintendent search committee, and a building committee for the district's second high school. He also worked closely with student groups, sponsoring the National Honor Society, the Rogers High School Scott Paper Hi-Q team

(an academic competition predecessor to Quiz Bowl), and the History Club.

Prentice earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Tulsa.

Before becoming a teacher, Prentice served four years in the U.S. Air Force, primarily with the 55th Air Rescue Squadron out of Kindley Air Force Base in Bermuda.

At RHS, he is particularly proud of having developed and taught two new classes in the 1980's, Asian History and the History of Terrorism. He also taught Government and World History night classes for four years during the earliest effort to establish a community college in Rogers.

Known for not only challenging his students but also mentoring them, Prentice received several local awards as well as a national award. He was named Teacher of the Year in 1993 and was the recipient of the Bonnie Grimes Award for those that go above and beyond for Rogers Public Schools students.

In 1994, Prentice was presented with the Nancy Lyman Roelker Award by the National Historical Association at their national convention in Chicago. The award is based on former students' and peer letters of recommendation. Since its inception 31 years ago, only 10 high school teachers have received this award, with the remaining 21 recipients chosen from various universities.

Prentice and his wife Beverly (also a retired Rogers educator) still own and operate a

400-acre farm raising Angus cattle on the banks of Big Sugar Creek in Southwest Missouri.

Prentice feels that the combination of teaching and farming has led to a full and rewarding life. Always a teacher that had his former students return to visit him, he is especially pleased that, even since his retirement in 2002, he still hears from former students, even some that he taught in 1975.

Gina Kell devoted her life to education and touched many lives in her 26 years in the Rogers Public Schools as a teacher and a math facilitator.

"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously shared, 'Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?' For those of us who had the privilege of knowing Gina Kell, we saw this question answered by a life well lived through acts of kindness and service to others," a colleague shared in her nomination.

Kell passed away in 2020 but is still remembered for always going above and beyond for her students with extra tutoring and resources, as well as for being a fierce advocate for them. Kell also made her mark by supporting her colleagues in countless ways, both large and small, often surprising them with encouraging notes or a treasured piece of her original artwork at just the right moment.

Inspired by her kindness, Elwood Middle School is continuing her legacy by marking

December as the Gina Kell Month of Service each year to care for the community. Elmwood students have participated in greenway cleanups, written notes to nursing home residents, and conducted walkathons for the Kendrick Fincher Hydration for Life program to build on Kell's legacy.