From left, Harmoni Willaims, Zay'Lyn Pleasant and Trinity Davis check out some of their new books after Lamar University staff senate members and Dr. Ken Evans presented a boxful of new books for The N.E.S.T. (Navigating Excellence Success and Triumph) at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary School, which was the first N.E.S.T. reading room created through a joint effort by Principal Audrey Collins and the late first lady Nancy Evans as part of a Lamar-based community enrichment effort supporting area schools and children. There are now three schools that have N.E.S.T.s - Charlton-Pollard and Blanchette Elementaries were the latest additions, with plans for future sites to be created at other BISD elementary campuses. Photo taken Wednesday, December 18, 2019 Kim Brent/The Enterprise less
Photo: Kim Brent / The Enterprise
Lamar nurtures its N.E.S.T.s for Christmas
Wednesday afternoon, as classrooms throughout Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary celebrated their Christmas parties, a group of nearly one dozen students filled a circle of Cardinal red bean bag chairs in The N.E.S.T., pouring through the dozens of new books donated to them by members of Lamar University’s Staff Council.
The school was one of three receiving the book donations, which were provided by members of Lamar staff and faculty to continue the community enrichment initiative started by former first lady Nancy Evans. Pietzsch-MacArthur was the first elementary within BISD to get a N.E.S.T. (Navigating Excellence Success and Triumph) room. It was a prototype developed by Evans and Principal Audrey Collins.
Charlton-Pollard and Blanchette elementaries have since gotten their own N.E.S.T.s, and plans to build the rooms at additional elementary campuses are in the works.
Dr. Ken Evans and council members made rounds to drop books at each of the three campuses, meeting with students and principals to pass out the materials. Bert Wagner, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, says the donations represent “a good opportunity to give back to the school districts that we have here in our neighborhood.”
Staff Council Vice President Stacie Granger added that it was nice to continue the legacy started by Nancy Evans to encourage students to explore reading. “It was great to see that the kids are so interested in reading and so enthusiastic about books,” she said.