What's Cooking at Rural Schools? More Than You'd Think!

Stafford Schools USD 349 is a small school in a small Kansas town. But small doesn't equate with dying or stagnating. The small school continually is looking for big ways to make a difference in the lives of their students and in the community.

For the past two years, Stafford Schools has been working to convert its Family and Consumer Science room into a commercial kitchen.

A couple of weeks ago, Randy and I went to a fundraiser dinner at the school for the culinary arts program. SHS Alumni Barry and Meta (Newell) West shared their knowledge of cooking and baking with culinary arts students at SHS during the day.

Then Barry (SHS Class of 1961) and Meta (SHS class of 1965) demonstrated techniques to the patrons who gathered that evening to see the new kitchen being used (and eat a fabulous three-course meal).

Culinary Arts instructor Denise Dickson talks about the program with dinner attendees.

For several years, Superintendent Mary Jo Taylor and the Stafford USD 349 Board of Education had been contemplating the future of the Family and Consumer Science program. The leaders were looking for a way to make FACS more relevant to career-oriented individuals.

Career emphasis isn't a new idea at Stafford Schools. Several years ago, the school opened the Stafford Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (SEED) Center at a downtown Main Street location. The SEED program is an innovative approach for meeting the educational and school-to-work preparation needs of high school students.   SEED Center classes are elective classes.  Students learn entrepreneurship and marketing principles while participating in individual and group projects. Each student operates an entrepreneurship project and utilizes marketing strategies to promote his/her business project. Students are allowed to keep 70 percent of their net profits. (Businesses have included T-shirt design, converting videos to DVDs, personalized dog collars and lip balm, just to name a few.)

The SEED Center, Photo from SEED's Facebook page

In addition, there are students who've been taking classes in a health care curriculum. They can get health care certifications, like Certified Medication Aide, etc. Many of them gets hands-on experience working at the Stafford County Hospital. (Randy had blood expertly drawn by a high school senior for some recent lab work there. The same student helped draw blood at the health fair last year.)

The commercial kitchen is yet another way to introduce students to possible future careers.

"The Commercial Kitchen is a project that was built out of a desire to have culinary arts curriculum available at SHS," Superintendent Taylor said. "This hope became a reality when a grant from the state became available from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) called a Rigorous Program of Study (RPOS grant).  The effort to earn the grant was successful.  For the past two years, the Board of Education and staff have worked at planning curriculum and kitchen space.  Teachers have had to be trained for this unique method of teaching and learning.  In the end, the entire Family and Consumer Science Room has been remodeled and turned into a commercial kitchen.  It is an exciting new venture for the school."

School photo

Superintendent Taylor said that KSDE was looking for an innovative idea to provide a model for other schools in the state.

"KSDE leaders, especially a former FACS teacher now at KSDE, Gayla Randel, loved the idea of proving that a rural school could take on a project like this and provide a model for rural schools," Taylor said. "Most folks think this grant money should go to large schools to affect more students.  But, if many rural schools could learn from this, many students will be affected.  That is why much of our funding was to go to staff development training and technology.  We are supposed be be able to document our progress and present it in a way for other schools to learn."

After the school got the RPOS grant, Stafford County Economic Development Director Carolyn Dunn obtained another grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank for $20,000 to help pay for the new equipment.  The school paid for the remodeling of the kitchen.

As a component of the grant, the school also had to establish corporate sponsorships.  They include: Stafford County Flour Mills (more on that tomorrow), Apron Strings, Elroy's Pizza, Joan's Cafe, Wheatland Cafe and Catering and Stafford County Farm Bureau.  These entities don't necessarily give money but serve in an advisory capacity (although a couple of them are generous, Superintendent Taylor says).  Other partnerships are:  Kansas Sampler Foundation, Kansas Small Business Development Center, Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway, Stafford County Economic Development, Stafford County K-State Extension, Stafford Chamber of Commerce, STARS After-School Program and Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

"An advantage of learning this curriculum at the high school level is that students can obtain professional certifications that put them ahead of the game if they pursue this career path," Taylor said. "For example, an industry standard is the "Serve Safe" certificate.  Another is the "Pro-Start" certificate.  Upon graduating from high school a student may go straight to work as a cook in a restaurant or already have the background to take their career to the next level as a caterer, restaurant manager, restaurant owner or any number of careers in Hospitality and Tourism."

If students decide to climb the management ladder, SHS has articulation agreements with two community colleges, Barton Community College and North Central Kansas Technical College at Beloit and Hays.

"By articulating, it means that courses are already seamlessly coordinated to go from one step to the next with ease, thus increasing the efficiency of the education obtained," Taylor said.  "The only college currently offering a bachelor's degree in this major is Fort Hays.  We expect K-State to offer this major soon."

Culinary arts students at SHS can take classes offered in a Culinary Arts and Management Strand through a Career Cluster, part of KSDE's Career and Technical Education Curriculum. The classes include culinary arts I and II, baking and pastry I and II, food science and event planning and management. SHS won't offer all the classes each year.

The reason I am such a big fan of CTE," Taylor said, "is that students can take an interest and pursue it a little or turn it into their life's work.  Certainly the certificates could help a college student get a higher paying job at a restaurant and help them with college expenses."

Yes, high school classes can have a profound effect on your life. Meta Newell West, who was one of the chefs at the culinary arts fundraiser, brought with her a recipe book she compiled during Stafford High School home economics classes. (Her former home economics teacher, Betty Byer, was at the fundraiser dinner!)

The methods may change over the years, but SHS has been working to effectively educate its students for more than 100 years.

**If you're in the Stafford area and missed the fundraiser, you still have an opportunity to see the commercial kitchen, as well as other new features of the school, including a greenhouse and safe room. The school will host an open house from 6:30 to 8 PM Tuesday, April 8. Enter through the high school and check in at the Commons Area for tours**

I'll Take Some History With That Cherry Limeade

Stafford's Main Street looks different than it did in this photo from 1955 (found in Stafford's Centennial book, Crossroads of Time: 1885-1985). The latest census shows what everyone already knows: The population in rural communities, including Stafford, keeps decreasing. But, instead of giving up, Stafford citizens are pulling together and trying to make lemonade out of lemons - or, in this case, beautifully topped ice cream sundaes out of plain old vanilla ice cream.

In Stafford, you can have that sundae or a freshly-squeezed limeade at an historic soda fountain located at the Stafford Mercantile.  

The "Merc," a variety store on Main Street Stafford, has been open since the fall of 2012. Local investors came together to return a business to the vacant storefront after national retailer Duckwall's pulled its stores from most small Kansas communities three years ago. 
 
The Mercantile makes it possible for residents to shop for things like Wrangler jeans or a bridal shower gift without driving 30 minutes to Pratt or Great Bend or 45 minutes to Hutchinson.  

The centerpiece of the Mercantile is a 1928 marble soda fountain. It was originally in Smart Drug in Stafford. 

From the Stafford Centennial Book. You can see the marble soda fountain as it was in Smart Drug on the lefthand side of the photo.

When Randy and I were first married, the soda fountain was still on Stafford's Main Street in Jim's Sundries. Later, Leroy and Ollie Meyer purchased the business and continued to operate the soda fountain at their business they called Elroy's. But when they closed the sundries portion of the store to focus on the Elroy's Pizza side of their business, the soda fountain was sold and was stored in a neighboring town for years. One of the Mercantile's organizers, Clare Moore, tracked down the soda fountain and brought it back home to Stafford.

   

To install it at the Mercantile, they added oak columns from a Stafford Victorian-era home to frame the soda fountain. The back bar was from a prohibition-era speakeasy near Stafford Lake, and booths and marble tables are original to the same drug store as the soda fountain.  All were dug out of different storage places and refurbished.

A year ago, Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, was in Stafford to present a Building Better Communities Award. The award spotlights positive community action in Kansas and shows how creative thinking and teamwork make a positive difference.

 In a speech on the U.S. Senate floor on January 30, 2013, Senator Moran said:

     In small communities across America, the people there, they work hard. They come together to find common-sense solutions. They solve problems. They try to make a difference in the life of their families and their community. They also strive to provide a better future for their kids, so that every child has the opportunity to grow up, pursue the American Dream and reach their goals.

     For rural communities to survive and prosper, citizens have to work together to create their own opportunities for success. … The reality is that those communities that are going to have a bright future are those who decide, on their own, to work together within that community to make certain that’s the case.  An example of a community that rallied together in a way to make good things happen and make the community better for the future is the community of Stafford. ...

     Rural communities across Kansas have been hit hard by the economic downturn over the last few years and many towns have encountered the closing of businesses. Main Street looks a lot less appealing. There's a shortage of health care services. The younger generation is leaving home in search of employment. In light of these challenges, the community leaders of Stafford have taken steps to secure that town’s future.  …

Comments from Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas

Speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate

January 30, 2013

See the complete speech

Senator Moran's staff also prepared a video that's been posted to Youtube (That link is at the bottom of this post.) There are three other videos that focus on specific ways Stafford is looking to thrive (click on each of the underlined links to see those videos.) Besides featuring the Stafford Mercantile, another talks about how the community rallied to save the Stafford District Hospital. Another features Stafford USD No. 349's SEED (Stafford Entrepreneurship and Economic Development) Center, a charter school for high school students. It's where students develop a business plan, talk to the banker, make a product or deliver a service and then actually open and operate their own business on Main Street Stafford.

Stafford is proving that when communities look within themselves for growth, they do have the capability to forge a stronger, more positive future.

Stafford County Economic Development Director Carolyn Dunn

Maybe revitalizing a community is like making an old-fashioned cherry limeade. Even in a community "squeezed" by challenges, the future looks a lot more "rosy" when people get "stirred up" and come together. (You can get one of those cherry limeades at the Mercantile's soda fountain by the way. They are even half-priced on Thursdays!) 

Also this week as a President's Week celebration, all merchandise at the Mercantile is 20 percent off (except for consigned items). The Mercantile definitely needs support from its hometown and from visitors to survive. You can be part of the solution by shopping locally. Or, if you're from outside Stafford County, come visit us and spend a little time at the soda fountain. Even though it's historic, it has all the modern conveniences - like free Wi-Fi!. You can also "like" the Stafford Mercantile on Facebook.

***

Note: This continues a series of posts about things to see and do in our community of Stafford. On Tuesday, I featured the Nora E. Larabee Memorial Library and the gorgeous stained glass window, leaded glass and woodwork in the building which has served Stafford for more than 100 years. Wednesday, I focused on the Frank Lloyd Wright influences in our home church, Stafford United Methodist. This post is rewritten from a Kim's County Line post dated February 8, 2013.

A Treasure in My Own Backyard

Sometimes, it takes a challenge to make you look at something in a whole new way. I belong to a Facebook group called Snapshot Kansas. It's a group of amateur and professional photographers who post pictures of all things Kansas.

I love photos. I love Kansas. It's the perfect little spot on the Web for someone like me.

Each Tuesday, the site administrator issues a new challenge. Photographers are free to participate or ignore the prompt. Sometimes I join in, and sometimes I don't. Last week's suggestion was to take photos of unusual libraries or bookstores.

I've never seen a library or bookstore I didn't like. I have loved libraries since my Mom took us each week to get new books at the Pratt Public Library.

But I am ashamed to admit this: I don't go into the Stafford library very often. It's certainly not that I'm anti-library. The ladies at the front desk of the Hutchinson Public Library know me by name because I reserve so many just-released books.

Of course, Dixie knows me by name, too. She's the librarian at Stafford's Nora E. Larabee Memorial Library and has been for years. When Jill and Brent were little, we frequented both the Stafford and Hutchinson libraries. It was often a challenge to keep the piles of children's library books separate and accounted for.

Brent, especially, loved going in to the Stafford library to see Dixie and to play games on the computers there. As an older elementary school student, he'd walk to the town library after school and wait until I was done with work at Stafford Middle/High School.

But this Snapshot Kansas prompt reminded me there is an unusual library in my own little town. A centerpiece of the library is this gorgeous stained glass window.

 

Nora Larabee was the only daughter of two of Stafford's leading citizens, Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Larabee. When Nora died of tuberculosis in 1904, her parents wanted to build a tribute to her. In 1906, they erected a red brick building at a cost of $5,000. Nora Larabee's portrait in stained glass dominates one of the library's west windows.

Dixie says the window is at its most beautiful in the later afternoon, as the setting sun illuminates the window with a fiery red. But I took this photo a little after 2 in the afternoon, and it's pretty spectacular then, too!

The stained glass window isn't the only unique feature of the library. Many of the other windows feature leaded glass. (Even though it doesn't show the woodwork, I like the angled view below because I could avoid the storm siren and the power lines you see when you look out the window directly.)

The windows are encased in beautiful original woodwork.

This photo also shows one of the pieces of 100-year-old Mission-style furniture in the library.

The library hasn't been without controversy. When I shared the photos with the Snapshot Kansas group, I wanted to include a snippet of history. What I learned surprised me:

      The library is unique as a focal point in a 1907 feud between the town banker and The Stafford Courier editor. The building became a public library only after a controversy which turned the town upside down. Public sentiment about the library was so strong that the entire Stafford City council and mayor resigned before the deed for the building was finally accepted. The condition of the deed that caused the furor read as follows: "Owing to certain unwarranted attacks made by The Stafford Courier…it is made a condition of this deed that the present editor of said newspaper, nor any of his family shall at any time be a member of the said board of directors."
        Finally, in May of 1907, a petition from Stafford citizens requested the library council to either accept the conditions of the deed to the library or resign. The new city council voted to accept the building from the Larabee family along with the stipulation that the editor of The Stafford Courier and his descendants be barred from membership on the library board in perpetuity.

Information from http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Stafford/libhist.html

The feud is long-since forgotten, but the library remains today, more than 100 years after it was constructed as a memorial to honor a beloved daughter.

This Snapshot Kansas "assignment" caused me to think about other unique features of this place we call home. They say that those who live near the Grand Canyon don't go look at it until they have guests coming. The same is said for Washington, D.C., residents who save their trips to the Smithsonian for special occasions or to entertain out-of-town visitors.

Maybe I need to think like a tourist in my own backyard to truly appreciate it! So, in the coming days, I plan to share more from Stafford, America.