MONETT, Mo. — A ribbon cutting, yesterday, in Monett honored historical signs created by high school students. It was a community effort to complete the project.
“And this is a gift that my students to our community, and our community is so proud of them, I’m so proud of them, and the kids are proud of themselves,” said Amy Sampson.
It’s all thanks to their literature class teacher, Amy Sampson. She underwrote and received a $2,000 educational grant. Her class decided to use the money to honor the community’s history.
“My students wrote historical markers and signs and created them and we’ve had the city place them around town,” she said.
31 signs were created and researched — with each noting a historical event, item, or location.
“It’s a really cool thing, because you know a lot of people didn’t know where these events happened before we wrote these signs and put them up,” said Jayden Hohensee, Junior at Monett High.
The students spent months planning and researching their projects. They even had help from two local historians.
“They were super helpful and super informational like they were really awesome. It was really cool just getting to like listen to them. It was like a campfire sort of thing where you kind of like gather around them and they tell you the stories of Monett. It was great — and then we just kind of regurgitated that information onto paper and got some signs going,” said Anette Garcia.
The students say they are honored to now be a part of Monett’s history.
“I think it is really awesome like I can just pass by Central with my parents and be like hey my name is on the sign that’s pretty cool,” added Garcia.
“I think it was important probably because we just had a big opportunity come our way and it is cool to see what things we can get out of. It is cool to see what the school can offer us,” said Hohensee.
