Armour, South Dakota

Today, Sheli and I went to Armour, South Dakota - home to the Packers. Armour is a great little town and after meeting the teachers there this summer we were anxious to see the community and schools. Armour was founded in 1885. The city was named for Philip D. Armour, who was founder of Armour and Company, a meat packing company. Contrary to popular belief, Armour was never home to a meat packing plant; the town was so named because Mr. Armour was also the chairman of the railroad that went through Armour and donated a bell to the local congregational church (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armour,_South_Dakota). Armour is home to 699 people today.


Like our previous South Dakota locations, Armour boasts both and Elementary/Junior High and a High School. These rural schools do a lot of facility sharing and like the other locations, the gym and cafeteria are located in the elementary school building.

We were most anxious to get to Armour as we were promised an opportunity to accompany Slim Schneider (10th grade biology) and Mary Schneider (10th grade language arts) and their 11 tenth graders on their first STEM field trip of the year. Slim and Mary opted to combine their two classes this year to create an integrated biology/English class. After spending the first few days of school learning about the scientific method and creating protocols around experiments the students were anxious to see real science in action, the local taxidermist, Larry Wold was just the ticket.



Larry not only discussed his career and education but helped the students understand the complexities of taxidermy from the business side to the actual application. The students saw Larry's lab, his process, and his final products. They had the opportunity to see and hear the scientific method in action - with none of the day to day details left out. Each student left the field trip with a better understanding of a unique career option in rural South Dakota.




We then spent the afternoon working one on one with the teachers, helping them refine the projects they planned during the summer, brainstorming ideas around student engagement, and just plain seeing these wonderful folks in their native habitat. We learned that there should be absolutely no parking of trucks on the grass but bikes were just fine!

Location:Armour, South Dakota