Our Service Projects
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Our Little Free Library
“Take a Book-Return a Book” is the philosophy of over 40,000 Little Free Library Book Exchanges around the world. The libraries come in many shapes and sizes, but the most common version is a small wooden box of books. What is the advantage to these libraries? Anyone can take a book or leave a book to share at any time.
In 2016, former Challenge students, Lucy Long and Chloe Slater, started planning their Little Free Library as a part of a 5th grade Service Learning Project for Destination Imagination.
At that time, they spoke at a City Hall meeting to get approval to place their Little Free Library in front of City Hall. They also searched Little Free Library plans, ordered materials, and ordered a charter membership in order to be an official Little Free Library.
After the initial planning, several more community members began contributing to the project. The Industrial Arts class improved the library design by building the doors and making it watertight. City Administrator Travis Dierker chose the location for the first library. Doug Tedrick and Boy Scout Troup 449 built the post and mounted it concrete in front of the city hall. Many community members have been donating books throughout the past two years.
On April 17, 2019, St. Clair’s first Little Free Library was placed onto the post next to St. Clair City Hall by Long, Slater, their teacher, Jennifer Hawkins, and Dawn Tedrick, a parent volunteer. The library is in front of the building next to the sidewalk for easy access.
If you have not visited the Little Free Library yet, check it out. Take a book and leave a book, or just take a book and return it when you’re finished.
If you’d like to donate gently used or new books, you may drop them off to Jennifer Hawkins at the Edgar Murray School.
Friends of Kids with Cancer
Toy Drive
Challenge classes have been partnering with Friends of Kids with Cancer since 2018. The goal is to help kids with cancer...be kids. Challenge classes collect toys annually for kids fighting cancer.
The mission began when Cora Conner shared the idea during a Destination Imagination team meeting. Her team, CLEKA, began collecting toys during the Main Street Christmas Parade on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018. Since then, they have been collecting toys at City Hall, public businesses, and St. Clair School District schools. They've also partnered with Dana's to hold events to collect toys. Since its inception, Challenge classes have collected and donated over 1,000 toys and gift cards to the Friends of Kids with Cancer charity.
Friends of Kids with Cancer is devoted to enriching the daily lives of children undergoing treatment for, and survivors of, cancer and blood-related diseases.
Their mission is to be an advocate for these special kids and provide them and their families with the educational, emotional, and recreational support needed as a result of the long hours of chemotherapy, illness and isolation.
Toy donations are delivered to one of three St. Louis area hospital toy closets. After a patient receives treatment, he/she chooses a toy. The toy closets provide toys for younger children and gift cards for teens.
Frisco Escape
Service Learning Project
Fourth Grade Edgar Murray Challenge students' passion for escape rooms led them to a first place solution in the 19th annual Destination Imagination Global Finals, May 23-26, 2018, at the University of Tennessee. Their team, “The Wonder Wolves” consisted of Landen Baxter, Myah Beeson, Mattea Casey, Ali Clark and Lilly Verrett. Three of the five team members competed in Global Finals. Beeson, Casey, and Verrett shared their Team’s Central Challenge and solved an Instant Challenge to earn first place out of 77 teams from around the world!
Team Challenge
Team members were required to identify a community need, conduct a service project, then write and present a theatrical presentation describing their project. Their presentation was similar to the actual escape room they created. In the presentation, a gang member hijacked the train, and conductor and engineer were required to solve puzzles to escape, all while explaining their service project. A highlight of the skit was the team's parody of "Crazy Train."
Service Project
After surveying the community, the Wonder Wolves set their goals to provide more entertainment for families and to make the city more inviting for visitors, businesses, and residents. They discussed many options with their community partner, City Admin. Travis Dierker, and they finally decided to turn the Frisco Caboose on Main Street into an escape room. After months of planning, they invited community members to escape the caboose on Sunday, March 25, 2018. Because it was St. Clair’s 175th anniversary, the team incorporated the city’s history into the “Frisco Escape.” That’s when they began working with the St. Clair History Museum as well.
The setting of the Frisco Escape took place in the 1940s. A gang planned to hijack the train at the St. Clair Station in order to steal $5,000 that was being delivered to the Farmers and Merchants Bank from William Randolph Hearst. Participants were required to solve puzzles and logic problems to identify the combinations to unlock locks on boxes, cabinets, and even a cash register. The ultimate goal of the participants was to locate the distress flag and horn to signal the brakeman to stop the train.
They charged $10 for adults and $5 for students, and they raised $544 to purchase flowers and paint to help beautify our city.
Since then, the Challenge classes have created and held two more escape rooms in the local caboose. They held "Escape the Spook Caboose" in the fall of 2019 and "A Christmas Story Escape Room" in December of 2022.
The Challenge classes hope to continue offering free escape room opportunities in the Frisco Caboose each year!
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