This feature article appears in the March/April issue of the Nebraska Lawyer and was written by Dallas Jones, Kids' Chance of Nebraska Board Member.“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.” - John F. KennedyThe day began like every other. He went to work. Like his father, grandfather, and great grandfather before him, he did the best he could, with what he had. To every generation of his family, high school had been merely a temporary barrier to finding a job and getting on with life. His instincts told him it could be different. His desire was that it would be different. For Sophie. She was smart. Curious. Capable. He dreamed that his daughter would break the family tradition. Her education would not end with high school. She would have the skills to do what she wanted to do, not what she had to do.The day ended like no other. The sounds of the ICU monitors foretold the reality that his dream to help Sophie attend college was over. The black ice caused his truck to roll, leaving him unconscious, without the use of his legs for the rest of his life. Though his employer’s insurer would pay him total disability benefits for the remainder of his life, saving a little along the way to help Sophie break the family tradition was not in the cards.A little over two years ago about a dozen people, led by two Nebraska lawyers, had the idea to transform the tragedy of serious work injuries into triumph, one child at a time. That group, comprised of professionals who make their living from the workers’ compensation system, formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation for one purpose: To raise money and award post-secondary educational scholarships to children with a parent who was either killed or suffered significant permanent disability in a work accident. Lawyers who’ve opposed each other in hundreds of cases; employer and labor representatives who wrestle over details of collective bargaining agreements; insurance and hospital executives who quarrel over reimbursement rates; vocational consultants, physical therapists, third party administrators whose business model is premised on the existence of people being injured at work; all of them recognized that by providing kids, who might not otherwise have the ability, with a chance to secure a post secondary education, is not only an enormous benefit to those kids and their families, but serves to enhance the future success of the state.Kids’ Chance of Nebraska will be awarding its first educational scholarships for the fall of 2015. If you would be interested in supporting Kids’ Chance of Nebraska, would like more information, know of an eligible family, or are interested in being involved, contact Rod Rehm (rodrehm@rehmlaw.com) or Dallas Jones (djones@baylorevnen.com), or go to www.KidsChanceofNe.org.“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.”- Diogenes Laertius