To continue the summer theme of learning about where some of the Gardiner Resort Tax funds go, we interviewed Laura Chastain, Director of the North Yellowstone Education Foundation.
What is NYEF?
North Yellowstone Education Foundation (a.k.a. NYEF, pronounced en-YEF) is a nonprofit established to support Gardiner School. It was founded by a group of dedicated parents who wanted to ensure the success of our rural school despite funding cuts and reduced enrollment. Today, NYEF focuses on three areas for the school – Connect! Grants, which are classroom grants that allow our students to explore unique opportunities that fall outside of the school budget, mental health support, and most importantly, affordable staff housing. We also support various capital projects for the school.
How does the resort tax and NYEF interface?
NYEF applies for resort tax funds to support our local students, teachers, school staff, and residents in creating a world-class community at the entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
What large projects have you been most excited about that the resort tax has helped fund that have a big tie to the community?
Several school/community upgrades have happened in the last few years. The resort tax helped fund new playground equipment behind the school, which is used by students and community members. Last year, funding from the resort tax, Park County Community Foundation, and some private donors helped to fully revamp the lighting and sound, add a state-of-the-art projector, and enable video capture in the school “cafetorium”. This project benefits our whole community as the school is currently the only location to host large events. We also collaborated with multiple funders, including the resort tax, Park County Community Foundation, Vital Grounds, The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Bear Creek Council, Bear Aware Gardiner, and the Cinnabar Foundation, to fence the track and playing field. This project was designed to create a proactive solution in a human-wildlife high-conflict area. Today, you will find students, residents, and visitors alike utilizing this safe space. This summer, the school will replace its very outdated, unrepairable bleachers thanks to a grant from the resort tax and the Park County Community Foundation. Again, this update not only supports our school but also our entire community. Bruin games are always free for our senior citizens. It is the space used for the annual graduation ceremony, FFA events like Donkey Basketball and many other events that the whole community comes out to enjoy.
How does NYEF support teachers and therefore students?
Connect! Grants address needs in Gardiner that fall outside the school's annual budget. This past year, the resort tax supported the following Connect! Grants:
∙ Robots in the classroom $406.00
∙ School/Community Garden $1000.00
∙ School Theater Program $3,000 (costume basics to be used annually)
∙ The Gardiner Brew-In $2,389.98 (equipment to develop real-life skills for our students in the SPED program)
∙ Drivers Education support $1,903.08 (Dino-Lube was also a partner in this funding at $2,000)
∙ Weight Room equipment $507.96
∙ Poets in the classroom $1,210
What upcoming projects might you seek additional funding for?
The Gardiner School, NYEF, and the Bruin Booster club are working to make additional improvements to the school track by improving the lanes and lane surface, replacing the crow’s nest and adding concession services below, and purchasing a new pit mat for our track and field students. NYEF raised close to $10,000 in our year-end campaign to kick this project off. NYEF and the Booster Club will be raising funds for this and other projects during the month of July for this year's Give A Hoot. Give A Hoot is a month-long, county-wide initiative to bring focus to our local nonprofits that support our rural communities. This month-long giving is sponsored by Park County Community Foundation, and funds are partially matched, helping every donation reach further.
To learn more about the Gardiner School Fencing Project, check out the Youtube video below!
And for information on the Annual Connect! Grants.
Many thanks to Laura for the great responses and for all the work that you, your staff, and your board do to better the Gardiner School and our community!
