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. Recipient districts are partners of the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership, which focuses on sustaining rural schools as anchors of their communities.

“The conservation/environmental grants are selected on the basis of student involvement and community impact,” said Julie Leeth, Rural Schools Coordinator and Executive Vice President of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. “All of the selected projects will enhance the education of the involved students and at the same time better the community at large, which is the essence of place-based education.”

To learn about RSP’s other grant opportunities, click here.

The Student Conservation grants were awarded to the following student-led projects:

• $1,325 to Ozark Upper Elementary School for maintenance of the campus’s outdoor classrooms and to build a network of trails between them, as well as the completion of a Native Missouri Plant Garden.

• $1,573 to Stockton High School’s Stockton Teen Empowerment Project (STEP) to help create, maintain and publicize a trail network within the community and in Stockton State Park. Benches made of recycled materials will be part of the project.

• $1,235 to Galena High School for a collaborative effort to create a small food plot on vacant land, as well as utilization cages and trail cameras, that will allow students to study and observe local wildlife.

• $1,848 to the Hartville R-II School District to help transform a vacant area on the school’s campus into a native flower and vegetable garden, with a goal of eventually contributing to the district food service’s Garden to School program.

• $1,983 to the Ozark County Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) for expansion of the group’s citywide recycling program in Gainesville. Funds will be used to purchase more receptacles to place in school and public facilities, as well as extra bags and plastic liners.

• $2,000 to Willow Springs Elementary School to help improve the district’s outdoor classroom, including a sand sensory box for science classes, picnic tables and the planting of fruit orchard for fourth graders, with produce eventually being sold at community events.

The Ozark County Youth Empowerment Project and Stockton Teen Empowerment Project are two of 35 chapters of the CFO’s Youth Empowerment Project, which encourages youth philanthropy through education, service learning, grantmaking and fundraising.

Dora students accept their $20,000 grant for a digital storytelling archive at Thomasville in May, 2011.

We love it when a good plan comes together.

Last May, during the Rural Schools Partnership’s annual conference in Thomasville, the Dora schools received $20,000 as part of the Coover Place-Based Education grant to produce Dora Digital Stories, an online resource to document and record the history of Dora and Ozark County. The mission of the digital storytelling project is to learn more about the history of the area as well as how to produce video documentaries, an important skill in an ever-more-digital world.

When the six-month report on the project’s progress came in, were amazed. The site is clean, easy to use, and already features a handful of local stories, complete with video. You can visit the site here; it’s a must-bookmark for anyone interested in Ozarks history.

The Coover grants are made possible by the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation Place-Based Education Grantmaking Program of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks in partnership with Commerce Trust. Learn more about the Coover grantmaking programs here.

Chadwick’s Outdoor Classroom from CF Ozarks on Vimeo.

There’s no denying that it has been a heat bomb of a summer in the Ozarks. The sweltering temperatures have made outdoor work miserable, and keeping living things alive has been something of a challenge.

With that in mind, students in the Chadwick R-1 School District should be doubly impressed by the transformation that awaits them when the new school year begins August 22. And a number of community volunteers, students and school staff from the small, rural town in eastern Christian County have put in the sweat equity to make sure it gets done.

With the help of a $19,989 Coover grant the Chadwick campus, instead of a hardscrabble space between school buildings, will now have a fully functional outdoor classroom and Ozark Mountain herb garden. With a little financial boost, students, volunteers and staffers from Lowe’s in nearby Ozark have turned a previously useless patch of gravel and grass into one of the most innovative classroom projects in southern Missouri.

With the additional help of a $5,000 Heroes Grant from Lowe’s–which included materials, plants, furnishings and expert advice–multi-tiered levels of decks and sitting space have been erected where previously there was limestone chat and scrub brush. Umbrellas, a shade awning and multiple access points make the space comfortable and useful for all students.

For the schools, the herb garden will serve cross-curricular purposes; students will not only maintain and grow the plants, but learn about their home uses, medicinal properties, and importance to the Ozarks’ early history and ecology in classes spanning from elementary school to high school.

Other project objectives, as outlined in the grant proposal, include a website to track the project’s progress, a space in the garden reserved for elementary students, a community display at Chadwick’s annual Railroad Days celebration and collaboration with Christian County’s Master Gardener chapter for professional assistance.

The project was one of eight to receive more than $140,000 in 2011 Coover grantmaking funds last May at the Rural Schools Rendezvous in Thomasville, Mo. Selected projects must meet the Rural School Partnership’s mission of connecting schools and communities through the principles of place-based education. The RSP now taking applications for the 2012 Coover grantmaking round; click here to apply. The application period ends March 2, 2012.

The grants are made possible by the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation Place-Based Education Grantmaking Program of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks in partnership with Commerce Trust. The Rural Schools Partnership is a CFO initiative.

This week in Chadwick, the deadline heat to complete the project before school actually outweighed the temperature heat. The sky was overcast and temperatures mild as a parent-volunteer pounded pavers and Lowe’s employees assembled furniture.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Ashlee Jones, president of Chadwick’s Future Farmers of America chapter, and a few of her fellow officers looked around the space and talked about its potential uses. They had also helped unload a mountain of lumber when it was delivered earlier in the summer. “We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into with the size of that lumber delivery,” she said with a laugh. “This is something that shows Chadwick is taking a step forward, and something that the students can be proud of.”

Wheeler takes the long view: When asked what purpose he hope the space is serving 10 years from now, he says he hopes to be able to sit in the corner, sip on some sweet tea, watch the students and “plan what to do with the next 10 years.”

We can only hope that summer isn’t quite as hot.

Charlie Bentley captured the story in this short video. We hope you enjoy it and are as inspired by the place-based, hands-on energy as we were. Click here for more RSP grant information, as well as another video by Bentley that explains the Coover program in a nutshell.

The Creation of Hollister’s Tiger Springs from CF Ozarks on Vimeo.

Coover Place-Based Education Grants – These grants provide support for innovative ventures focused on the tenets of place-based education. Proposals that include matching funds or other leveraged resources are encouraged. The grants range from $10,000 to $20,000 for the eight to 15 projects awarded annually. This program is made possible through the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Charitable Foundation Regional Grantmaking of Commerce Trust Company.

The application deadline is March 2, 2012; grants will be awarded at the annual Rural Schools Partnership conference in Thomasville, Mo., in the spring. No matching funds are required.

Conservation Grants—These grants are intended to engage students in community-based conservation projects.  Grant awards will range from $1,000-$2,000 for a total pool of $10,000-$15,000, depending on the quality and quantity of proposals.  This grant round is open to ALL Rural Schools Partnership schools, including those that received a conservation-related grant in previous years or grant rounds.

The application deadline is 5 p.m., Oct. 21, 2011 with notifications by Nov. 1.  Funded projects should be completed by Spring  2012, and grant reports will be due by June 1, 2012. Photographs and/or video of the project will be required for the grant reports.  No matching funds are required.

Contact Julie Leeth with any questions concerning the Rural Schools Partnership grants at jleeth@cfozarks.org or (417) 864-6199. This grant round is made possible by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, its Stewardship Ozarks Initiative, and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation.

Tiger Springs is reality!  Dedicated at a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 19, this collaborative venture will be an asset to the Hollister schools and community for years to come.  Hundreds of students, teachers, administrators, and community leaders were on hand to applaud Hollister’s STAR alternative high school students and the many others who made this place-based education dream a reality.

Scott Wenger, STAR teacher and project coordinator, said it couldn’t have happened without the hard work of the students and support from so many.  “Our STAR students did an outstanding job of planning and making this happen.”  Wenger added, “Also, without the grant assistance from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, training from The Rural School and Community Trust, support from our administration, and a lot of in-kind help from the City of Hollister and other businesses, we wouldn’t be standing here today.”

In addition to the STAR students, Hollister science students worked diligently to improve water run-off and create a positive natural habitat. The effort involved all science students and the Student Council at the Middle School, Junior High and High School (approximately 300 students) in the design and construction of a rain garden to channel drainage from a spring running from the Middle School to the highway.

A pond has been dug to catch the spring, and seedlings, bamboo, trees and flowers have been planted to absorb drainage and enhance the pond. The area now serves as a learning project for the students, a natural science classroom for the three buildings, and a demonstration project for the community. The STAR alternative school students took the lead in this project by determining necessary tasks, establishing time lines, and taking bids for materials and tracking expenses.

Tiger Springs is an exemplary place-based education project.  It represents the essence of what the Rural Schools Partnership is all about.  Philanthropic efforts provide valuable resources to strengthen local education.  Students and teachers work together in the planning, development, and implementation of an engaging effort.  A project is successfully completed that benefits everyone in the community and brings the work of thoughtful young people to the community forefront.

For more information on the Tiger Springs project or on the Coover Place-Based grants program, please contact  the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Julie Leeth at 417-864-6199.

Congratulations to the following 2011 Coover Grant Recipients:

• Leeton R-X: $20,000 for the School Based Enterprise Bulldog Express, which will expand the community grocery in a larger location and  add a coffee shop/deli.
• Chadwick: $19,989 for a project to study the edible and medicinal benefits of Ozark Mountain herbs and build an outdoor classroom.
• Sherwood-Cass: $20,000 for “The Sherwood Forest,” a campus Master Treescape and Beautification Plan and enhance the carbon-credit awareness and green operational strategy capacities of the students and community.
• Fairview – $19,534 for a water awareness project to train middle-school students about freshwater quality and mentor lower-elementary teachers to teach younger students. The project will culminate a community-wide “Fresh Water Awareness Festival.”
• Stockton: $16,700 for a “Tiger Community Pride”  project to build a pavilion, and a vegetable/flower garden, including  research on Missouri wildflowers and their benefits.
• St. James YEP – $20,000 to start Firehouse Coffee, a student community enegagement center in a 2,500-square-foot old firehouse that also will host summer concerts to generate revenue for the YEP fund.
• Glenwood:  $4,600 for ”Grow Our Strengths,” a project to build raised beds to grow produce to use in the school kitchen and donate to the community food pantry, along with learning to compost school kitchen waste.
• Dora:  $20,000 for ”Dora Digital Story Telling,” where students will complete a “digital story” based on a community inquiry project that analyzes an aspect of the Ozarks.

Students at Ozark East Elementary School are celebrating life Down Under during this year’s cultural focus on Australia and New Zealand that included a school assembly and community open house today.

The project is supported by a $1,500 Conco Arts Program grant awarded by the CFO’s Rural Schools Partnership program. Art Teacher Cyndi Shepherd used the grant funds to create a multi-media learning experience that included a variety of hands-on art projects, a visit from Dickerson Park Zoo animals, and a live performance of native dance by members of the Island of Fire show in Branson.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is a student-art interpretation of the Great Barrier Reef, which was produced in neon colors vibrantly lit by blacklight. Other student art projects are on display throughout the school.

Beginning next week, each class in the school will have a chance to tour the walk-through Great Barrier Reef as their cultural focus continues. Shepherd said she was inspired to create an annual cultural focus on a particular area of the world after receiving a Fulbright Scholarship for a visit to Japan in 2001.

The Student Conservation Grants Program is sponsored by the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation (http://www.mochf.org/content/home.php) and the Rural Schools Partnership.  This program provides conservation education grants for student-led activities and projects.

The Ozarks Water Watch Grants Program is sponsored by Ozarks Water Watch (http://www.whiteriverbasin.org/) and the Rural Schools Partnership.  Its purpose is to increase student awareness of water quality issues through place-based education projects.

The following projects received funding this March:

Student Conservation Grants Program

Forsyth High School received $1,500 for the Green Paws Green Garden—Middle school students, the Green Paws, will establish raised garden beds to grow Missouri wildflowers and vegetables to teach sustainability.  They will incorporate rain barrels into the project to teach and model water conservation.  Composting will also be introduced as well as the use of earthworms and their importance in soil regeneration.

Reeds Spring Youth Empowerment Project received $1,100 for YEP students to build an elevated flower bed for the newly remodeled front entrance to the high school.  School letters will be incorporated into the design. Flowers and rocks will be used in their work, and the flower bed will become the responsibility of the YEP group and the Botany class.

Couch Youth Empowerment Project received $1,500 for YEP students to create a school garden that will serve as an educational lab.  Biodiversity will be the emphasis and pass along plants will be incorporated along with heirloom seeds.  This project will serve as the first phase of what is hoped to be a series of school flowerbeds, raised beds for vegetable growing and the eventual use of this homegrown food in the cafeteria.

Ozarks Water Watch Grants Program

Cassville High School received $1,500 for a trailer to haul refuse from area streams.  Funding was also provided for video/digital cameras for documentaries of the stream cleanups as well as photographs of the process for printed documentation and presentation.  Students will perform community service by stream cleanups and will create environmental documentaries and presentations to raise the awareness of environmental issues.  Students will also make copies of their work available to interested agencies as well as other schools.

Eldon Mustang Force (Youth Empowerment Project) received $1,105 for an after school program where students will learn about the importance of water quality.  Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance will assist with the program.  Water from Lake of the Ozarks will be tested and students will consider the ways that they can help monitor and keep the lake clean.  They will take an all day field trip to Lake of the Ozarks where a creek meets the lake to gather samples and do a visual survey, calculate stream discharge and sample for macroinvertebrates.  Students will share their findings with selected audiences.

Fairview School received $1,284 to support the training of 7^th graders in environmental water quality issues and proper water testing procedures.  Students will explore concerns with water pollution along with strategies to decrease the problems.  Collaborators include the Missouri Department of Health and the Missouri Department of Conservation.  Students will tour the West Plains water treatment plant and explore procedures of well drilling.  Hands on water testing will culminate the project.

Hollister science students have worked diligently to improve water run-off and create a positive natural habitat in a special project completed thanks to an RSP grant.  This project received funding from the 2010 Coover Place-Based Grantmaking Program, a key feature of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Rural School Partnership.

The effort involved all science students and the Student Council at the Middle School, Junior High and High School (approximately 300 students) in the design and construction of a rain garden to channel drainage from a spring running from the Middle School to the highway. A pond has been dug to catch the spring and seedlings, bamboo, trees and flowers have been planted to absorb drainage and enhance the pond. The area now serves as a learning project for the students, a natural science classroom for the three buildings and a demonstration project for the community. The STAR students took the lead in this project by determining necessary tasks, establishing time lines, and taking bids for materials and tracking expenses.

In addition to this project, the second part of the Coover project was to develop a student-run, downtown flea market, which is up and running.