FAYETTEVILLE -- The Hall of Honor wall in Fayetteville High School's arena recognizes a husband and wife who have been active supporters of the School District and a former social studies teacher.
Two other new names on the list are those of an involved community member and the founder of an organization operating a children's home in Kenya.
Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor
Goals
• Provide role models through former students who have distinguished themselves.
• Create excitement about education.
• Honor educators, friends for extraordinary contributions to public education in Fayetteville.
Source: Fayetteville Public Education Foundation
They are Neal and Gina Pendergraft, Susie Brooks Stewart, Candy Clark and Sarah Fennel Buchanan, all of Fayetteville.
"Everyone has an opportunity to help others," said Buchanan, an inductee chosen for the first Student Choice Award for her efforts to help children in Sirembe, Kenya. "You should just try to take these opportunities when you have them."
The hall's newest inductees were announced during a luncheon organized by the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation on Thursday at the high school. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards program, co-sponsored by the foundation and the school's Student Council.
The formal induction will be Sept. 29 at the Fayetteville Town Center. The event begins with a 5:30 p.m. reception, followed by a meal and a program. The cost to attend is $100 and money raised is used to help the foundation award grants to teachers.
"It's one of the best classes we've ever had," said Jane Gearhart, a member of the foundation board. "Neal and Gina have done so much in our community."
The couple's community involvement includes their church, a food pantry, the Walton Arts Center and the schools, Gearhart said.
Gina Pendergraft's involvement with the district began because of her two daughters, Rachel and Sarah Ann, who graduated from Fayetteville High School in 2010 and 2013, respectively. She simply felt a need to volunteer, she said.
Former Fayetteville Public Education Foundation President Treva Hamilton, who was in the Hall of Honor class of 2012, convinced Gina Pendergraft to join the foundation board, of which she's a former president. She remembers the number of grants teachers requested that went unfunded because there wasn't enough money.
"If one of your children have a special teacher that has made an influence on them, reward them through the foundation," she said.
Getting involved is as easy as contacting the foundation or going to a school to help a teacher, Neal Pendergraft said.
Stewart, who taught from 1971 to 2010 at Fayetteville High School, sought to create a welcoming classroom where students felt comfortable sharing diverse views in her history classes. She taught her students about the impact important figures in history made despite their flaws.
"They still managed to do great things," she said. "Those were the people who never gave up."
Stewart, 68, hoped to share with her students her passion for her subjects and for working with young people. Her career included serving as the district's social studies coordinator. In that role, she was involved in the School District's effort to put a greater emphasis on high-level thinking skills in classrooms.
The former history teacher chose her profession because of the influence of teachers she had in school, including Fayetteville High School teachers Vivian Schurfranz and Mary Heflin and the former Hillcrest Junior High School teacher Don Deweese.
"I believe that teaching is the most important job," Stewart said. "I always felt that it was important to respect my students, and I hoped they would sense my passion."
A desire to give back to the community goes back to lessons Clark, 59, learned in her childhood. She was raised by a single mother who was a teacher.
"You didn't have to have everything in the world to start sharing," Clark said her mother taught her. "I believe in education. I believe it truly is the key to a good future."
Clark still remembers the credit account Carl Collier, a third-generation owner of Collier Drug Stores whose son now runs the business, provided her mother, she said. She remembers how her mother would get three paychecks during the summer and would use some of that money to pay her drug store bill.
"It's people like Carl that taught me," Clark said. "They taught me that ethic that you share. You give back. You do it quietly."
Clark, a Fayetteville High School graduate of 1975, and her wife Teddy opened a commercial and industrial cleaning services business in 1998. They have been supporters of theater programs at Fayetteville High School, Clark said.
Clark's involvement in the community includes being the first executive director of the Humane Society of the Ozarks; serving on the Fayetteville Planning Commission, Tree and Landscape Committee and Civil Rights Commission; and being a former justice of the peace on the Washington County Quorum Court.
A childhood interest in Africa and a Kenyan friend in college contributed to Buchanan founding Restore Humanity 10 years ago, she said. Buchanan, 36, had a long interest in visiting Africa. She had an opportunity to volunteer for five months in South Africa after graduating with her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Buchanan's college friend connected her with his mother.
She's a former Montessori teacher who became a link between people in Africa who needed help and other people who wanted to know how to help.
Her now 10-year-old organization operates a children's home for 19 boys and girls in Kenya, an outreach program that pays school fees for 44 children in the village of Sirembe, Kenya, and a child care center for 35 children in the village. The organization also built a maternity ward in the village last year.
Buchanan is the daughter of another Hall of Honor inductee from 2003, Joe Fennel, who owned Jose's Restaurant on Dickson Street.
"It's really an awesome thing to be a part of," she said.
NW News on 08/12/2016