Julie Leeth (right) with CFO's Rural Schools Partnership presents a DVD copy of "Hats, Pies and Fiddles," as well as $100 check, to Sophia Greenwalt, organizer of Reeds Springs Middle School's Hat Day program.

If ever the character of an entire town could be summed up by one of its youngest citizens, Reeds Spring, Mo. is wonderfully represented by 13-year-old Sophia Greenwalt.

A 7th grader at Reeds Spring Middle School, Sophia has spent the last two school years orchestrating a monthly “Hat Day,” which has rallied her fellow students around philanthropy and community-building. Sophia put together a PowerPoint presentation and presented the idea to the school. The idea – in which students are allowed to wear any type of appropriate headwear one day a month (hats are usually against dress code) – is facilitated by the Reeds Spring School Foundation and supported by school administration, faculty and staff. It is truly a community effort.

“I just wanted to help people, and we never get to wear hats during school,” Sophia said. “I just thought it would be cool to have everyone take part in it.”

“Take part” is putting it mildly. Since September 2010 Hat Day has raised more than $13,000 for local charities, including the local Humane Society, Ozarks Honor Flight, Shop With a Cop and the school’s backpack program for students in need of food options at home.

On Friday, Jan. 13, Sophia was honored for her efforts at one of the school’s Character assemblies. The Reeds Spring School Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Rural Schools Partnership presented her with a $100 grant to put towards a future Hat Day’s collection total. The school was also treated to a special screening of “Hats, Pies and Fiddles” a short film produced by the Rural Schools Partnership to help illustrate the importance of rural school foundations. Hat Day is one of the film’s case studies, and Sophia one of its stars.

“Hats, Pie and Fiddles” is just one element of a joint effort between the RSP and the Rural School and Community Trust’s Center for Midwestern Initiatives to help promote rural school foundations as vital parts of a school district’s (and a community’s) financial and social support system.

Sophia’s mother, Nettie Greenwalt, was in attendance at the surprise check presentation, and said the ceremonial big check is now hanging on Sophia’s wall. She also said the school foundation and administration, led by Table Rock Lake Community Foundation and Reeds Spring Schools Director of Public Relations Jim Holt, has been instrumental in the Hat Day program’s success.

“I want to give a whole lot of credit to Mr. (Jim) Holt,” Nettie Greenwalt said. “He is Sophia’s biggest supporter.”

About the Rural Schools Foundation Toolkit

As Sophia’s story helps illustrate, education is the lifeblood of small communities, and rural citizens must do all they can to support their schools, teachers, and students. Establishing an active and effective school foundation is an important step in ensuring rural school sustainability. To this end, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Rural School Partnership and The Rural School and Community Trust’s Center for Midwestern Initiatives have collaborated on the development of a comprehensive rural school foundation toolkit.

The toolkit has three primary features:

1. The film Hats, Pies, and Fiddles explores how three small-town school foundations engage students, teachers, and donors in creating a culture of school-centered philanthropy. This ten-minute film was shot by Missouri filmmaker Brandon Goodwin and highlights efforts in Reeds Spring and Alton, Missouri, and Fox (Rural Special School), Arkansas. DVDs are available upon request and the film is featured online.

2. A booklet, Building Rural School Foundations: A Blueprint for Stronger Rural Communities, has been published and is available online and in print. Produced by Missouri graphic artist and photographer Aaron Scott, the booklet provides action steps for establishing a rural school foundation as well as a donors’ guide on how to make charitable contributions. In addition, school foundation success stories showcase the Ozarks communities of Conway, Bradleyville, Chadwick, and Hartville, along with Wessington Springs, South Dakota.

3. A School Foundation Building website has been constructed in conjunction with the Center for Midwestern Initiatives. The site includes the aforementioned film and booklet, and it provides current examples and stories of the good and important work being done by school foundations from throughout the Midwest. The site’s blog provides readers with an opportunity to share their personal stories and submit materials to the site. Click here to view the CMI’s school foundation building page.

These efforts have been made possible by funding from the Philanthropy Initiative, a capacity building grant program of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

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.

The Youth Empowerment Project is designed to promote volunteerism, grantmaking, fundraising and education to get mostly high-school and some middle-school students involved in community-based philanthropy. The YEP program now includes chapters at 35 schools.

You can view photos from the conference, hosted at Drury University, at the YEP website, yepozarks.org, and check out individual chapter pages and brand-new group photos here (thanks for posing in the morning cold, kids).

To learn more about YEP, and how your school might start a chapter, contact Bridget Dierks by e-mail, or call (417) 864-6199.

Go to yepozarks.org. Click “Media” to view photos.

Click here to learn more about individual YEP chapters.

Teacher Corps students inside Leeton's Bulldog Express.

A couple of weeks ago, the current class of Ozarks Teacher Corps members took a trip to Leeton, Missouri, to learn about the place-based projects that the school has implemented, partially with the help of some grants from the Rural Schools Partnership and CFO. Chief among those projects is the Bulldog Express, a student-run store that serves as the only grocer in the small town of about 700 people. You can see photos of our visit here.

But the Ozarks Teacher C0rps were not the only folks visiting Leeton from afar this month; ABC World News with Diane Sawyer als0 came to town as part of their Bringing Back America series. The spotlight was on the store and the students, and the benefits for the town which fell victim to big-box stores in neighboring cities and the flailing economy.

You can watch the store here (sorry, no embed code that we could find). This is a huge spotlight for a town and district that deserve all the praise they can get for their forward-thinking, action-oriented cooperation.

The first six graduates of the Teacher Corps – Lauren Albrecht, Albert Bryant, Jessica Joiner, Morgan Mais, Melissa Payne, and Whitney Packwood –  all received job offers and will begin teaching this fall. More details about their plans are on an earlier post here.

The story also follows up on the initial expectations for the program from the first Rural Schools Rendezvous in May 2010 at the Thomasville, Mo., Community Center. Former CFO President Gary Funk talks about his charge to the students to be rural activists in their communities.

“Making a Difference Where You Live” is a bi-monthly collaboration between KSMU and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks that focuses on how volunteerism and philanthropy address community needs.

Editors Note:  This is the first of two features on Rural Schools Partnership educators who applied for and received funding from the Fund for Teachers Fellows Program in conjunction with The Rural School and Community Trust.  Only eleven awards were made to rural teachers nationally, and we are proud that two were in the Missouri Ozarks.  This year’s Fellows are Bolivar Primary teachers Kayla King, Joelle Smith, and Janet Tweedy; and Ste. Genevieve Valle Catholic Grade School’s Donna Herzog, who is featured below.

What do Flat Stanley and place-based education have in common?  Donna Herzog knows; and she ventured to the American Southwest to prove her point.

Herzog, a first grade teacher at Ste. Genevieve Valle Catholic School, recognizes the importance of place.  Teaching in an historic Mississippi river town only heightens this awareness and participating in an innovative place-based education project—as Donna did in 2009-10—served to reinforce her commitment.  It was through the Valle School community history project, funded by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks’ Coover Grants program, that Herzog became acquainted with the Rural Schools Partnership and its collaborative work with The Rural School and Community Trust.  She then learned of The Trust’s partnership with the Fund for Teachers and applied for a 2011 fellowship.

“Our children have always been interested in Flat Stanley and his trips to various locations,” she shared.  “When students see a Flat Stanley picture somewhere they have never been, it becomes an opportunity to teach geography and culture.  I thought it would be neat to take a trip to the Colorado River region, haul Flat Stanley along, then come back and compare river life in the American Southwest with our students’ own experiences on the Mississippi.”

So, Herzog prepared an itinerary, developed an interdisciplinary curriculum, and sent in her application.  Much to her surprise and delight, she received one of eleven awards granted to rural teachers from across the country.  “I am so grateful to The Rural School and Community Trust and the Fund for Teachers program.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it will really bring learning to life for my students,” she said.

Herzog’s first-graders will not be the only students benefitting from her efforts.  She plans on developing a multi-age curriculum, which will include high school students creating podcasts about river life in Missouri.

Ste. Genevieve Valle and the Ste. Genevieve Valle Foundation are both members of the Rural Schools Partnership, and the cooperation between the school and the supporting foundation has provided enhanced access to funding and programs.  For more information on the Rural Schools Partnership, The Rural School and Community Trust, or the Fund for Teachers, please contact Julie Leeth at 417-864-6199 or jleeth@cfozarks.org.

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.

Former Community Foundation of the Ozarks President Gary Funk will head the Center for Midwestern Initiatives for the RSCT. The CFO created the Rural Schools Partnership in 2009.

The common goal of both efforts is to promote place-based education, which encourages  connections between rural schools and the communities they anchor by instilling a commitment to their culture and heritage among students and educators.

Since its founding, the Rural Schools Partnership has created a network of more than 100 rural schools in southern Missouri, developed more than $4 million in charitable assets to support rural   education, and built the Ozarks Teacher Corps, a scholarship program to return teacher-education graduates to rural communities.

The Rural School and Community Trust is a founding partner of the RSP project. Its Center for Midwestern Initiatives program will work to replicate the program in a region that will initially include Arkansas, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota, all of which have strong rural-education networks.

“We will work with colleges in those states that have expressed interest in these concepts and share our goal of recruiting and preparing strong teachers for rural communities,” said Funk, now a Senior Fellow with the RSCT. “We also will work with communities to develop school foundations and build philanthropic assets, which are increasingly important to support schools.”

Robert Mahaffey, director of communications and marketing for The Rural School and Community Trust, said the new Center for Midwestern Initiatives will continue the RSCT’s long commitment to regional collaboration and partnerships.

“This is an ambitious project, and we think it’s a great opportunity to expand a successful model to  strengthen rural education in more communities across the Midwest,” he said.

The Rural School and Community Trust is a national nonprofit organization addressing the crucial relationship between good schools and thriving communities. Its mission is to help rural schools and communities grow stronger together.  Working in some of the poorest, most challenging places, the Rural Trust involves young people in learning linked to their communities, improves the quality of teaching and school leadership, and advocates in a variety of ways for appropriate state educational policies, including the key issue of equitable and adequate funding for rural schools.

For more information about the RSCT and the Center for Midwestern Initiatives, contact Gary Funk at gary.funk@ruraledu.org or Robert Mahaffey, at mrobert.mahaffey@ruraledu.org. For information about the Rural Schools Partnership, contact Julie Leeth at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks at jleeth@cfozarks.org or (417) 864-6199.

New Ozarks Teacher Corps members meet in Thomasville. From left, front: Megan Kell, Andrea Harris, Rachel Acuff, Cindy Awad, Rebecca Anton, Annie Brechbuhler, Stephanie Sechler, and Daphne Barner. Back: Kelly Wardle, Taylor Rutledge, Jimmie France, Josh Stolzfus, Brandi Case, and Katherine Espy.

Fifteen aspiring teachers have joined the Ozarks Teacher Corps scholarship program this spring, which will provide $4,000 annual awards in return for their commitment to teach in a rural district after they graduate.  These new Ozarks Teacher Corps members were recognized at the May 5 Rural Schools Partnership conference in Thomasville, Mo.

In return for the scholarships, the students commit to teaching for at least three years in a rural school. The students also will serve as teacher interns and explore rural education issues as part of their studies.

The Ozarks Teachers Corps scholarships are made possible by the Chesley and Flora Lee Wallis Scholarship Fund and the Henry J. and Lucille J. Straus Scholarship Fund, both created by generous donors committed to ensuring advanced education for Ozarks students. Both scholarship funds support students involved in the Rural Schools Partnership, an initiative of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks dedicated to strengthening rural schools as anchors of their communities.

The Ozarks Teacher Corps was inaugurated in 2010 with its first group of recipients, several of whom are graduating this year and have accepted teaching positions in rural Ozarks school districts. The OTC students meet as a group four times a year for field experiences and training opportunities.  This new class of 15 joins a group of students who have one year of Ozarks Teacher Corps experience.

In addition to the scholarships, each student will receive a free membership to the Rural Schools Innovation Network, a training and networking program of the Rural School and Community Trust.

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.