Southern Secrets Society: The Grooming | #Suspense | RomePi™

͋ 2 ͋ School Honor (BWWM)

Well, I'm sure you know there's a story in all of this.

The truth of the matter is simple. I figured out a way to change my fortune. And with that decision, I learned a lot more than I bargained for.

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MY SLEEPY LITTLE TOWN

My high school became the lucky recipient of a laundry list of accolades after three of their students won first place for three different artistic mediums in a national art competition.

Loveall Independent School District decided to reward the individual winners as well as sponsor an eleventh-grade field trip for the art teachers and the students under their tutelage. It wasn't something that was required but the school district felt it was the least they could do to show their appreciation.

Creations in charcoal drawings, paintings, and sculptures were selected as the grand prize winners. Because the junior class was responsible for those projects, the school was particularly proud after national reporters came to learn more about the school and town perceived to have fostered so much talent.

The insane amount of attention shining on the school because of the students' wins opened the door for the superintendent to reward the art department hoping to keep the honors coming their way. The more light shining on the school, the more state and federal funding would follow.

Arkansas leaders were head over heels in love with the national spotlight that had been placed on a school within its state borders. Not only did the attention give politicians a reason to lobby for more funds needed to support art programs, but it also gave them a talking point about how Arkansas supported the growth of all students no matter their background.

Of course, I was too young to understand all that was going on with the school district, local, county, or state politicians; I just wanted to go anywhere but where I was from.

Oh, yeah. I'm one of those talented artists. I worked my fingers to the bone for six long months to give birth to my babies. No... I don't mean actual living, crying, flesh-n-blood crumb snatchers. 

No, sir...

I'm talking about the pieces I created with my bare hands.

The classes selected for the trip were brought to the school's auditorium. Before we were given the chance to get too excited, school administrators informed us that should we choose to visit Little Rock, the school would pick up the tab in full. On the other hand, if we elected to venture farther away from home and visit the more expensive city of Dallas, only twenty-five percent of the costs would be covered by the school district.

You see, traveling within the state wasn't such a big burden because it was less expensive and could be reimbursed in part through different state programs. Of course, I had to dig around a bit to find out why we were expected to come up with so much money, and ta-da, that was the answer. In all fairness, where I live it's a rather remote country town. Due to its small size and the school district's lack of additional miscellaneous funding for such an expensive journey, we were lucky for them to pick up any portion of an out-of-state trip. 

Because our work brought so much positive attention to the school, we were actually given a choice and we were lucky since nothing like this ever happened to the art department or an art student.

Since much of the class had never traveled farther than maybe forty or fifty miles from our small town in Loveall, Arkansas, it was a unanimous decision. We all decided that it was the best opportunity for us to get as far away from our small back-of-the-woods town as we possibly could. Everyone was eager to make their way to the big city. Just the thought of traveling all the way to Dallas was like asking us if we wanted to fly to the moon.

Let me explain it to those of you who don't understand what that meant to us. We did everything in our power to raise that money so we could get the heck outta dodge.

Since we were headed to the Dallas Texas Art Museum as well as the Aquarium, the plan included a two-day and two-night stay. Our trip required us to make sure we had enough money for twenty-five students who would enjoy a hotel stay, food, and sightseeing, as well as being chaperoned at several paid but mostly free exhibits.

To make everything come together successfully, on Fridays and Saturdays, we washed cars and put on weenie roasts to chip away at some of the costs. The local churches helped us out by hosting bake-offs as well as raising funds during youth services. School-sponsored fundraisers helped us accomplish a portion of our goals, but let's keep something in mind. Loveall is a sports community.

Most fundraisers were focused on making sure the sports department at Loveall High School was fully funded. Considering we had a triple-A record-breaking football team; you know most of the money raised in our town was focused on the football players and the cheer squad.

The Art department had never sparked as much attention for the school district as the sports department. Art was funded for your typical art classes by the state, but anything special came out of the pockets of the students or should I say... the students' parents. Since we were given the opportunity of a lifetime, we were prepared to make the money ourselves if it would present us with a real shot at breaking free from the ducked-off rural place we called home.

If more than one art student hadn't won in their selected categories, no attention would have ever been placed on us. So imagine how difficult it was for us to slowly but surely pinch away at our financial obstacle only to receive some not-so-great news. As hard as we worked, the closer we got to the day when our dreams would become a reality, our awkward yet somewhat listless art teacher gave us a pretty cruel wake-up call.

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