Rural Schools Association of NY

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

Teacher/Staff Grand Prize Winner
All In A Days Work
Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School District | Jennifer LeJeune

This is a photo of my desk in my classroom. In one day I teach six different classes that demand my content knowledge span from paint applications, reclaiming clay, mixing chemicals for photography and teaching digital imaging software. If you work in a rural school, you wear many hats. My desk is a representation of all the ways I work to offer my students as many opportunities as possible. It's messy but it is reality.

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

PR-Communications Grand Prize Winner
Watch Us Grow
Warsaw Central School District | Megan Winter

Each May, Warsaw Elementary School (WES) hosts an Ag/Planting Day for students in grades UPK-5. Members of our agriculture community, including veterinarians, farmers, crop management specialists, and many more, are invited to share their careers with students through hands-on activities. Classes are also invited out to the School Garden, which is located behind WES, to help prepare the high tunnel and raised planters for the season. Through the hands-on agriculture-related activities and planting, students spend the day learning in action and collaborating with community volunteers who have come to help plant. The picture "Watch Us Grow" shows a kindergartner helping to plant at Ag/Planting Day held in May 2025, and perfectly represents the "Our Rise" category. All summer, local families volunteer to tend the School Garden and, in the fall, hundreds of pounds of produce is donated to the Warsaw Food Pantry to benefit local families in need.

Many thanks to Sidney Central School District for this incredible opportunity!

Join us July 12–14 in beautiful Lake Placid for the 2026 Rural Schools Association Summer Conference—where tradition meets innovation and the future of our rural schools takes shape.

This year’s theme, Our Roots, Our Rise, celebrates the strength of our communities while spotlighting the bold ideas and collaborative approaches moving us forward.

🌳 Inspiring keynotes
🤝 Meaningful networking
📚 Innovative sessions you can bring back to your district
🌄 And a setting that reminds us why our work matters

Whether you’re a leader, educator, or advocate, this is your space to grow, connect, and lead the way forward—together.

👉 Don’t wait—secure your spot today: https://rsany.org/2026-summer-conference/

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

7-12 Grand Prize
Collaboration Creates Passion | Ellenville Central School
My photograph highlights the impact of Stockade Works, a local non-profit film organization that brings hands-on film education exclusively to Ellenville High School. In this moment, students collaborate in class operating a camera, capturing sound, and supporting one another, while I as a senior stand at the center, symbolizing what access and opportunity can create.

For many students in rural communities, exposure to the film industry feels out of reach. Stockade Works changes that by introducing real production skills, industry knowledge, and creative confidence directly into the classroom. Through this program, I discovered my own passion for filmmaking and began to see a future for myself in an industry I once thought was inaccessible.

This work not only empowers students but strengthens the Hudson Valley, one of the fastest-growing regions for film production. "Our Rise" is visible here, where education, collaboration, and local investment shape the next generation of storytellers.

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

K-6 Grand Prize
Growing the Future at Home | Dansville Central Schools

This is learning in motion's curious hands, shared excitement, and questions unfolding in real time. Guided by their teacher, Katie Bancroft, students explore science together using locally sourced pumpkins. They learned about squash, gourds and the crops that grow naturally in our area. The maple leaves on their shirts reflect the trees that surround our community. Laughter, discovery, and problem-solving fill the room as learning becomes something you can see and feel. This image captures the future of rural schools: learning connected to our local environment. This photo shows us that in rural communities, growth happens through connections between students, educators, and our geography.

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

7-12 Grand Prize Winner
NY Strong | Morristown Central School

This is a photo of all of our students and staff at Morristown Central School. I chose this photo because it truly embodies what it means to have pride in your school. The student population at MCS is very small. We are often given unique opportunities because of our small population. This is just one of the photos I was able to take this year using a drone. To take this photo, it wasn’t just as simple as showing up and taking the photo. It took pride and commitment from several departments and every student at our school. From the planning to the ex*****on, everyone contributed to the success of the photo. We might be small, but we are one strong NY school. - Carter

Our Roots. Our Rise. 2025-26 Photo Contest Award Winner Announced:

K-6 Grand Prize Winner
Valentine's Day Dance | Andover Central School

This picture is in the auditorium. It shows students in first through sixth grade at the Valentine's Day Dance. The P.A.W.S. program put this fun event together. They are a 21st Century Community Learning Center program that utilizes grant money to hold events and opportunities for our school and community. At the dance I played with some balloons with some of my friends, and snacked on cookies. My mom, the art teacher, showed me and some other kids how to use the camera to take pictures during the dance. Others enjoyed these activities as well as dancing. In school I normally only am around students in my first grade class, but the dance allowed me to be around kids of other grade levels, bringing us together as one elementary community. - Jethro

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Rural Schools Maker Space Initiative, a targeted program designed to close the STEM access gap for students attending schools rural communities in New York.

Made possible by funding from the National Grid Foundation and in collaboration with our STEM partner, Teacher Geek, this initiative will provide five rural elementary schools with fully equipped, mobile Maker Carts. Each cart features over 18,000 STEM components to bring hands-on engineering directly into rural classrooms that currently lack dedicated lab spaces.

Grant Highlights:
The Hardware: Mobile Maker Carts loaded with STEM components and an NGSS-aligned curriculum supporting 40+ engineering projects.

The Training: Professional development to prepare K–6 educators to confidently integrate maker pedagogy into their instruction.

The Impact: Reaching 500–750 students directly in Year 1, with a lifespan designed to serve thousands more over the next five years.

Timeline:
Application Deadline: May 29

Award Announcements: July 13 at the 2026 Summer Conference

Cart Delivery & PD Scheduling: Late summer/early fall

To ensure as many school districts have an opportunity to access this opportunity, school districts are only permitted to submit one application per district. We encourage district leadership to collaborate internally to select the elementary school with the highest demonstrated need.

For any questions regarding the grant application or the Maker Space Initiative, your primary point of contact is Scott Bischoping at [email protected]

We look forward to partnering with you to spark curiosity and build the next generation of rural STEM innovators.

Learn more: https://rsany.org/maker-space-initiative/