New program paves way for local businesses to support LCSD1 school programs

Apr. 23—CHEYENNE — Schools in Wyoming's largest K-12 district have a new way to connect with businesses within the community to support projects that would benefit their students.

Laramie County School District 1 workforce partnership facilitator Adam Keizer spearheaded the Venture Program as a way to connect local businesses and stakeholders with their schools. The program held its inaugural event Tuesday afternoon in Storey Gymnasium, where several booths were set up by schools in and near Cheyenne, promoting their projects.

"Our educators have fantastic ideas for the school, but our funding and our man hours can't cover everything," Keizer told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

This was an opportunity for local business owners, grassroots organization representatives and other stakeholders to connect with school representatives as a sponsor or donor, and help get these programs off the ground.

"We always hear that our business partners would love to work with the schools and work with our students," Keizer said. "It's always hard to figure out what the school needs. So finally, we said, 'Let's have the schools come and ask the community members.'"

A wide range of potential projects were promoted during Tuesday's event. Arp Elementary teacher Sybil Bustos was there to promote a reading program for elementary kids called Reading Under the Lights. The goal of the program is to promote literacy while establishing a sense of community between all schools in the South triad.

Bustos said she hoped to kickstart the reading program this fall, and is currently seeking donors and business sponsors to help buy the books. Each student's family would be gifted a book, she said, and the student would bring it along with them to read at the family-friendly event.

Jessup Elementary, Wyoming's first and only Apple Distinguished School, is promoting a STEM program called Genius Lab Makerspace. Jessup Principal Barbara Leiseth said this is a student-driven program at the elementary level to promote computer technology — a skill that continues to grow in demand in the current job market.

Leiseth said the program needs funding from business donors to buy equipment and materials, which the school currently has to borrow.

"It would just be so nice if we owned them and that the space was more professional," Leiseth said. "Right now, we have a hodgepodge of different tables and limited storage in our little bitty school."

Afflerbach Elementary School is located in the far south corner of the South triad, where there is a significant Hispanic population. Christine Tillman, a paraprofessional at Afflerbach, said they were in desperate need of a community resource center.

Many residents in this community don't have access to Wi-Fi, computers, clothing banks or food banks. The community has the Friday Food Bags program, which provides bags of food to kids every Friday during the school year, but there are 20 families on a waitlist to be served food, she said.

"We're maxed out," Tillman said. "Seeing that many kids go hungry is very hard."

She said the Venture Program was a great way to re-introduce the school to the community and have their voices be heard. Being located in south Cheyenne, Tillman said the school is often overlooked or dismissed.

There were plenty of other programs promoted at the event, including LCSD1's district-wide athletic program called Elevate Athletics, Parent Engagement in Educational Partnership (PEEPS) and FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America). Whether it's asking for donors to support a fifth sports program, help wash clothes for a clothing drive or contribute to kids who want to raise their own farm animals, but can't afford it, there were plenty of opportunities for local businesses to come out and support their schools.

"These are the things that we know will work really well here," Keizer said. "Let's see if the community is willing to come out and make this stuff happen."

Community members interested in learning more about how they can contribute can reach out to Keizer at adam.keizer@laramie1.org.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.