Wyoming Harvest Fest – 10 Years of Harvests

By Amy Elliot

What is better than one great community coming together to support another community? Nothing! Over the past 10 years, the Wyoming Primary Schools have made it their mission to do just this. Harvest Fest, started by Adam Beard and a few fellow community members, is an event that has not only grown in size over the years but in the positive impact it has had on the students and citizens of the Wyoming Community. 

Harvest Fest first started as an idea to create a project based learning experience, incorporating various state standards into the year long curriculum for primary students to help them engage more in their curriculum. Over the years, it has blossomed into a full-fledged event that has made over 8000 meals and raised over a total of $72,000 dollars to develop and sustain a school in Sierra Leone. This partnership has flourished into a Sister School of the Wyoming Primary Schools, and each student within the three Wyoming Primary Schools has helped support this relationship over the past 10 years. This year alone, Harvest Fest made over $6,000 dollars to support our friends in Sierra Leone. The money raised over the past years has helped build two schools, dormitories, provided clothes, school supplies, laptops, and daily necessities to students in Sierra Leone that originally have nothing. Not only have students gotten a chance to give back to fellow students around the world through Harvest Fest, but they have gotten first hand experiences in collaboration, hard work, and dedication. Over the school year, students maintain a garden, create a meal, develop the ingredients, and then serve this meal to the community members of Wyoming. This year-long process takes lots of time, dedication, and realization that students are not just helping themselves but helping those in need. 

Harvest Fest has been and will continue to be a cornerstone experience for all of the Wyoming Primary students as they grow in their collaborative leadership skills developing the next leaders of our community!