Picasso in the Wilderness, Part 2.
PRELUDE

The idea came about at a popular gathering spot called the Mother Lode, when some locals got to talking and agreed that "backwoods" didn't have to mean "backward." They realized that their children had the best possible environment to learn about the great outdoors. For botany, geology, or forestry, there was no better teaching ground. Exposure to the arts, however, was another story.

Recognizing that the absence of arts was a weakness in their school curriculum and a disadvantage for Elk City students, the group decided to do something about it. If they couldn't take their children out to an art museum or concert hall, they'd have to bring an art museum and concert hall to their children. They decided to apply for a grant to help incorporate art, music, and literature throughout the curriculum.

Susie Borowicz, Principal of Elk City School, thought this was a grand idea. Sure, the odds were against them. Elk City is a small school in a small town. The school's enrollment fluctuates between 65 and 85 students in kindergarten through 10th grade. The population of Elk City is 450, tops. The school had never received a grant of any kind before.

But, in the spirit of her predecessors, Borowicz didn't let the odds scare her. Like Gertrude Maxwell, Elk City's first schoolteacher-who, upon finding a garter snake in her desk drawer, wrapped it around her neck and continued teaching-Borowicz has spunk. Yes, she is an accomplished teacher and administrator; but she can also do some mean quilting and drop a moose with one shot. Borowicz and her staff applied for not just one grant, but three.

They got them. During the summer of 1996, the school received significant grants from the Albertson Foundation, Goals 2000, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Shearer Lumber Products, the local mill and largest employer in town, decided to kick in yet more cash and even a baby grand piano.

No one was more surprised by this wave of good fortune than Borowicz. "Suddenly, we had $58,000 to institute an arts program." Her reaction, she says, was a combination of excitement and fear. "We didn't even have one art or music teacher on staff."

They still don't.

But the entire staff has spent the last two years learning to become arts literate and finding ways to effectively weave arts into their teaching.

Kay Griffith, the teacher who spearheaded the effort to write the grant proposal, had previous experience with arts integration during a teaching stint in California. She was the perfect candidate to coordinate the project. With Borowicz's support, Griffith cut her teaching load in half and became a half-time arts facilitator, a position funded through grant money.

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