MONA, Utah — A community came together to help the local school library in a small Utah town, and they're continuing to raise money for the cause this month.
"What's your favorite thing about our new library?" Principal Brandi Webster asked a group of second graders Monday at Mona Elementary School in Juab County.
The kids all shot their hands up high in the air to get called on to respond.
"It's bigger!" one child blurted out.
"It's brighter!" another exclaimed.
"The ceilings are taller," another student commented.
They went on and on, excited about the recent changes to the space.
These are all big changes for this little school that came about from a community effort spearheaded by the students themselves.
"We were given a grant to improve our safety measures at the school, but there wasn’t enough to finish the library, so I couldn’t take the 50-year-old bookcases and put them back in," Webster told FOX 13 News. "So we figured, why not try to raise the money? So they wrote letters to local businesses and raised $42,000 — enough to renovate our whole entire library."
Young Scotlyn Olsen said rather shyly that she was grateful to be able to come here now and how cool it is that so many people care about the students.
She was picking out a book she said looked like it would be really interesting, based on how the cover appeared. She was excited to get reading. It is one of many new books now available to the students.
Paityn Jacobsen is one of the older students at the school and said she loved the new smell of the library.
"I think it’s amazing because there’s new books everywhere and it's really nice to have it bigger and so neat and organized," she said.
The library walls, still freshly painted, will get paintings hung soon, and tables and chairs will be coming as a new donation recently came in. The principal said it's already a major improvement.
"I’m proud of this school. They raised money to fine-tune it up," said sixth-grader Birklie Kay, who is now in junior high but remembers her time in the Mona Elementary library.
Birklie says she remembers the old one well — dark and much smaller. She and her mom tried to help in the effort to upgrade the library.
"I love, I love books," Birklie said. "I love the library. It was one of my favorite places. But it's a lot different now. It's like I just walked into a new school."
Her mom Baylie continues to raise funds as they look to not only upgrade the library, but also help teach the students about the history of the school and the town of Mona.
"We asked parents and local businesses to donate $5 or $5,000," Baylie Kay said. "We had an older library with older books that were falling apart. The school has been here for a long time. We needed a new facelift."
Principal Webster added: "From grandpa and grandma businesses to small, very small businesses in the community as well as large businesses, they all donated."
One of those was Mandi Fowkes, who, along with her husband, donated on behalf of their local business Fowkes Trucking.
"I love that my kids have a chance to learn and to grow here, and it’s amazing that they wanted to redo the library," she said.
Fowkes is also a teacher at the school and said she was proud to support the cause.
"It’s amazing to see how kids can grow when they dive into a book," she said. "They are changed. When they can read and understand and when they can dive into a book, it takes them to a different place where they can use their imagination, and it gives them information that can take them throughout life. Reading is definitely a treasure."
The efforts to raise money for the school continue this week.
"Community members are helping us do a tour through Mona and talk about the history of Mona and where the old schoolhouse used to be," Baylie Kay said. "The old Mona school song — that actually one of our secretaries' great grandmas wrote — and it starts by: 'Beneath the foot of Old Mount Nebo, beneath the blue skies of the west, is our dear old Mona school, of all the schools the best.' And just those few little lines explain what Mona actually, really is. Small town, good-hearted people."
"In Mona, we are so small, but this school is the heart of the community," Principal Webster added. "We have so much support from businesses, parents, families, and I feel the more you come to know about your community the more you come to love it. They always say something's different about this school. It’s special — the love. It's the love of teachers and staff and kids for the school."
The kids shared one message with all those who helped make the change for them: "Thank you!"
