Michael W. Engel 

Michael Engel was born in Los Angeles, California to Gerald and Rita (Conradt) Engel. The family soon relocated to Nebraska and Mike, the oldest of 7 siblings, spent most of his years growing up on a farm outside of Stromsburg. He spent his days working on the farm, getting up early to do chores and milk the cows. He was an outstanding athlete in high school and graduated from Stromsburg High School in 1966. After high school he spent some time working construction until a previous injury kept him from passing a physical and being drafted. It was at this time that he decided to continue his education at Peru State College where he studied business education and was a member of the football team. Soon he would marry his first wife, Jayne, and begin a career in education that would span many years and take him to all corners of the state of Nebraska. Mike became the father of two sons, Rob and Rich, and the family would call many Nebraska towns home. Mike was an avid outdoorsman and sports fan spending much of his free time enjoying hunting, fishing, and camping trips. Throughout his career Mike was a teacher, coach, principal, superintendent, and finally landed at Chadron State College as a professor of education. In his last stop as a K-12 Superintendent at Eustis-Farnam, Mike would meet his wife Lori and the two of them moved together to Chadron.