Cory Nelson of Burdett has been nominated for the Small Town Heroes contest for his continued commitment and work for Burdett School.

Nelson, who didn’t know anything about the nomination, was surprised to hear his name had been put forward.

He said he’s lived in Burdett all of his life, and in fact the house he currently calls home is about a block from where he was raised. He attended Burdett School as a child right from kindergarten through to Grade 9, then went on to high school in Bow Island. As a young man, he sat on the hamlet’s council and that’s when he began his first project to improve the school - garnering government funds to construct a tennis court.

“It tends to be that way in small towns. You volunteer to help things run,” he said.

Every year Nelson is part of the fundraising dinner for the school held in the latter part of January. He said his job is generally to gather items for the auction portion of the evening. The funds raised usually goes towards the school’s arts program - things like bringing Missoula Theatre to town.

Now Nelson, who is president of the Parents Advisory Council, has children of his own attending the school. His daughter, like him, went right through it from kindergarten to Grade 9 and is currently enrolled in Senator Gershaw. His son starts Grade 8 in the fall and his youngest boy will be in Grade 5.

He said working as a volunteer to earn money for the school is made easier because the caliber of learning there is so high, and so the community as a whole takes great pride in it.

“We are quite proud of our Burdett School. It’s nice to see the school is thriving. It has always had a good track record and very good staff.”

As for the nomination, although he said the top prize of having Paul Brandt come to your community and give a concert would be amazing, he usually isn’t concerned about getting recognition for his endeavours.

“I usually don’t worry too much about those things. If there is a way I can help I’ll just go ahead and do it. It doesn’t matter if anyone notices.”Residents can check out nominees for this award at smalltownheroes.ca.