Eureka High Students Construct Stands for Scarecrow Tour

Students in material processes teacher Tom Beckmeyer’s shop at Eureka High are playing an instrumental role in continuing an annual Eureka tradition.

With the Eureka Scarecrow Festival slated to end this year, school counselor Emily McKnight started working with fellow community members online to keep the scarecrow tradition alive. One of the main needs was for upright wooden stands to hang the scarecrows on.

McKnight consulted with Beckmeyer, and parent Lisa Heisel enlisted LaSalle Springs material processes teacher Bryan Tenny. Community members gathered supplies, Beckmeyer and Tenny cut the pieces, then Beckmeyer’s AcLab students got to work constructing the bases.

Within one day – two AcLab periods – 18 students had completed 23 bases for this year’s Eureka Scarecrow Tour.

“They have the ability and skillset up here, which is awesome to see,” Tenny said. “Tom can just teach them, and they went. That is a very powerful tool we have in this community. It’s awesome that they thought of us to be able to act on something like this."

Beckmeyer created bases for the festival’s original scarecrows, so he already had the plans, even though this year’s editions are a little slimmer than in the past.

Once the first round of supply donations came in from the community, Beckmeyer worked with student cadet teachers Dillon Huskey and Fisher Skaggs to notch, cut and prepare the wood for students to assemble during AcLab.

Beckmeyer was impressed with how efficiently and competently his students went about their work.

“It’s kind of cool that the kids who worked together and helped build it, they’ll be able to walk around town and be like, ‘Yeah, we did those. We made that,’” Beckmeyer said. “My big thing is if you have a skill at anything, you should be able to give back in some capacity. Whether that’s helping contribute to something or building something, being part of a community helps you belong and gives you a sense of pride.”

The more supplies that come in, the more stands they can make. Although the majority of scarecrows are expected to be assembled and placed around town by Eureka Days – Sept. 27-29 – there will probably be more that pop up throughout the month of October.

Beckmeyer and McKnight are both Eureka graduates who now work at the school and are raising families in the community.

“We want to give back to our community. We love it here,” McKnight said. “I want my kids to also do that one day, give back and feel like they belong here and are a part of this place.”