Pictured: Carol Silvey with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, far left; fourth grade teacher Lacy Reynolds; and far right, school principal Jennifer Douglas and Kelly Wardle. They are pictured with students from Mrs. Reynolds’s fourth grade class at a recent school assembly.
A primary objective of the community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Ozarks Teacher Corps is to introduce members to opportunities for garnering philanthropic resources for rural schools. Drury University participant Kelly Wardle, of Willow Springs, has taken advantage of this opportunity.
Wardle’s knowledge paid dividends recently when Carol Silvey, senior associate for advancement with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, presented a $2,000 Student Conservation Grant to Willow Springs Elementary School. Wardle learned about the grant opportunity through the Ozarks Teacher Corps and had the opportunity to visit several rural schools and see the impact such grants have made. Because only certified teachers are eligible to apply for the grant, and Wardle is currently a student teacher, Kelly partnered with Willow Springs fourth-grade teacher Lacy Reynolds. The grant paperwork was filled out with the help of Reynolds’ fourth-grade class.
The $2,000 in funds will go toward improvements to the outdoor classroom at the elementary school, adding a conservation area. It will include picnic tables, sensory tables, a sand area and a small orchard with six to eight apple trees and four pear trees. Produce from the school’s orchards will be sold at the annual community festival. The project will also builds a new partnership between the Willow Springs School Foundation and the Willow Springs Art Council.
The students of Willow Springs Elementary School will be at the heart of the project. Wardle said students will be taste-testing apples to decide which trees would be best. Once they decide on the trees, they will receive information on raising apple and pear trees from John Avery Jr. with the Missouri State University Fruit Experiment Station in Mountain Grove. The trees will be planted this spring.
The Student Conservation Grants are funded through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Rural Schools Conservation Fund and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation Grant Fund. Willow Springs is a member of the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, which focuses on sustaining rural schools as anchors of their communities
