Bringing Reading To Life

This new edition to Memorial Park is the fruits of several years of hard work. One of the Spirit Lake teachers involved said the project initially came up in a conversation with a colleague.

“A former colleague, Morgan Hoagland, and I were talking, and she had seen something about StoryWalk® and we had a brief discussion about it,” said Spirit Lake English teacher Kim Sierck. “It came up a couple other times, and we both loved the idea, but we weren’t sure how to approach it and get things started.”

Fast forward a few years and Sierck was looking for a project to oversee during J-Term 2023.

“This was truly a labor of love but definitely a rewarding J-Term project,” Sierck shared.

The first thing the 17 high school students created was a purpose statement, which was “We desire to contribute to our community by making a commitment to improving early literacy and promoting healthy living.”

The group next visited all of the city parks and listed the pros and cons of the locations, before narrowing the choices down to Memorial Park and Gilbert Park.

Several committees were formed for the StoryWalk® project: funding, communication, construction, etc. One group came up with a list of potential sponsors in the area and began putting together a presentation to pitch their idea.

Joley Schmahl was heavily involved in the project and visited various businesses, promoting the idea in hopes of having the project backed financially. Kyra Brevik and Ariana Theesfeld created a one-page brochure, allowing Joley and her team to share the idea with sponsors.

“We wanted to put people in the kids’ shoes so they knew how happy they would be if StoryWalk® was created,” Schmahl said.

Students had a meeting with City Administrator Gregg Owens to discuss the project and make sure it was possible.

“The City of Spirit Lake has been 100% supportive!” Sierck exclaimed.

Once a prototype of a StoryWalk® post and display was built with the help of Sierck’s colleague Alan Ditsworth, the students took it to meetings with Spirit Lake City Council, Kiwanis, and other businesses, so they could see what a display would look like.

At a February 2023 meeting, the Spirit Lake City Council agreed to help sponsor the project, as well as the local Kiwanis organization.

“What I liked most about this project is the fact that I got to work on my marketing skills, as well as to feel accomplished knowing that people loved our idea by their donation gifts,” Schmahl added.

Sierck said fundraising was the group’s biggest and most time-consuming aspect. Besides sponsorships, students held several bake sales during J-Term to start the process.

The next big hurdle was deciding which book to select. The Spirit Lake Public Library and the Friends of the Public Library were instrumental in helping with the selection process. Children’s Librarian Krista Elmquist provided the students with a stack of books to read, and the students chose “A Good Place” as their first choice.

“I like that we’re able to help kids read,” Brevik said. “I struggled with reading for awhile as a kid, and I know that if I had an opportunity that made reading fun, I probably would’ve learned faster, and enjoyed reading.”

By spring 2024, enough money was raised to order the posts, and with the help of Josh VanderWeide and other city workers, the posts were installed this May. Brevik and her team created the flow of the StoryWalk® and decided how many posts would be needed.

Major sponsors of the StoryWalk® were City of Spirit Lake, Friends of the Library, John W. Kidd Post 4514, Spirit Lake Noon Kiwanis, Northwest Bank and State Bank.

“To see it physically in place is awesome, and the kids really worked hard to make it happen. I think when you task students with a project like this, they will work hard to make it come to fruition,” Siercks said. “And now the StoryWalk® is in place and will hopefully have a lasting impact on the community and the families that take advantage of it.”

“A Good Place” will be replaced in the near future and new books will be regularly added, funds permitting.

“I thought this was a fun learning experience because we learned what it’s like to create something special by ourselves from the very beginning,” Theesfeld said. “It’s super important to understand that we can create something valuable for kids that will greatly impact their learning by putting in effort to figure out all of the different parts that create the StoryWalk®.”

Sierck added they are continuing to look for funding options so the books can be replaced more often, and pages laminated. They also would like to install a welcome sign.

This summer, Schmahl has enjoyed taking younger friends to Memorial Park and watching them love the experience.

“It is so fun to watch them love the book and get some sun,” she shared. “Putting in the hard work pays off once you can showcase your great work, knowing you worked hard to put these books in the ground.”

For anyone who’d like to support future StoryWalk® books at Memorial Park, contact Sierck at ksierck@spirit-lake.k12.ia.us.