Tucked neatly in the undulating swells of the Palouse in north-central Idaho among the sprawling fields and pine trees is the rural town of Genesee. The town lies just off US 95 between Moscow and Lewiston, away from the bustle of the main road, it’s a tight knit community and home to the Genesee School and the mighty Bulldogs.
Like the town itself, hidden away in the school is a thriving music program for the pre-K through grade 12 school. On a cold, wet spring morning, the Idaho Lottery made a special Classroom Wishlist visit to Mrs. Smith, the music and band teacher for the school. To encourage the future development of the school’s musical program, she asked for and was awarded 24 new pbuzz wind teaching instruments and five new trumpets.
The Lottery team was treated to a musical performance by the middle school band, with about 30 performers in all. They were outstanding! What a surprise to see that music, and music done well, was the very heart of the school and bustling community. For a school of 360 students, more than 10% were participating in the middle school band alone. Remarkable!
Taking a series of backroads from Genesee through Moscow to the mountains and meadows to the east, the Lottery team visited Bovill Elementary School for another Classroom Wishlist delivery. This visit was to Miss Summerfield’s second grade classroom. The small rural school has about 60 students, but her second grade classroom had a quarter of them with 15 students.
The Lottery team told the students they were from Boise. The curious students asked many questions about the big city and even offered a list of things you might find in the city like “a park,” “traffic lights,” “a zoo,” “a store,” and “big schools”.
The delivery included everything Dr. Seuss, from a complete collection of Seuss books to reading games, and Seuss-themed stuffed characters like The Cat in the Hat. After a short story-time reading to the second graders, much like The Cat in the Hat, when the story was done, it was time to put away books, games, and characters as the students had other subjects to study. These second-grade students, as part of “Read Across America Week” were each challenged by Miss Summerfield to read every single Dr. Seuss book she received by the end of the school year. Two students have already succeeded in doing so.
There are many surprises you’ll find in Idaho if you take the back roads, but you’ll never know what they are unless you venture off the main highway. And for two small towns, they were worth the extra miles.
