`Thinking big' leads to McCaw School of Mines

When people "think big," big things can happen. That was the case eight years ago when a class project by two Henderson elementary schoolteachers escalated into what would become the McCaw School of Mines.

Fourth-grade teachers Janet Bremer and Rick Rogers asked their then principal at Gordon McCaw Elementary School, Janet Dobry, if they could build a papier-mache mine tunnel in a corner of a classroom as part of a Nevada history project.

"At that same time we had a community friend, Frank Bupp, who is retired from TRW, asking what we were doing at our school. We told him about this class project and we were told that we should `think big,'" said Dobry, who serves as the executive director of the nonprofit McCaw School of Mines Foundation and principal at Robert Taylor Elementary School. "... Somebody said that maybe we could get a boxcar since we already had an actual caboose at the school and magically turn that boxcar into a mine tunnel. Somebody else said that maybe we could get a Tuff Shed and make that into a mine tunnel."

Bob Groesbeck, who was mayor of Henderson at the time, and Dale Scheideman, who works with the school district's Planning and Engineering Services Department, became involved and independently called Bill Snyder of Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects for advice. Snyder met with the group.

"It all grew from there," she said.

While "thinking big," the paper-and-paste idea evolved into a $2 million hands-on museum adjacent to the school, thanks to many donations and volunteers.

"After we developed a plan, Bill Snyder went out and found people to donate materials and labor for the project, and Bob Groesbeck went out and found people to donate money. Originally, the mining industry had nothing to do with it, they thought what in the world could this little elementary school do? But that all changed."

The result was a two-phase, community-based project adjacent to McCaw Elementary at 57 Lynn Lane.

The first phase featured a 4,500-square-foot mock mine with a simulated mining tunnel, shaft, elevator and pods accented by mining memorabilia, rocks and educational displays. Dedicated in September 1996, the project involved more than 400 companies and individuals who donated time and materials.

Its second phase, completed in March 2000, featured a 2,800-square-foot visitor and education center with an "old town" facade of storefronts. It was created with contributions from an additional 200 to 300 companies and volunteers, according to Dobry.

Situated between the two buildings are a desert garden installed and maintained by the Mojave Cactus Club, old mining equipment, and a reconstructed stamp mill once used to crush ore.

The site has become a popular field trip for other elementary schools and had its 25,000th explorer last May, according to Toby Holmes, current principal of McCaw Elementary.

"It is our hope that teachers will incorporate the history of mining and geology in their classes and that the field trip to the mine will be the culminating part of a class project. ... The mine teaches kids about fossils, types of mining ranging from open pit to shaft mining, reclamation of plants, mine safety, geology, mining equipment, and the history of Nevada," Holmes said. "The best part for the kids is actually getting to pan for gold. When they walk away from the mine with four flakes of gold it is exciting for them. ... The kids learn firsthand that you can find gold in black sand, but not all black sand has gold.

"The part that I like the most about the mine is that it is a community service project for our school. Academics is our No. 1 priority, and our second priority is taking care of the mine. The mine serves the entire Clark County School District. It is an awesome project."

Volunteers are credited for its success.

"A big challenge in running the School of Mines is that we need a strong volunteer base to make it work. We depend on students who act as tour guides, and especially on docents who are volunteers from the community. The docents are incredible people who volunteer their time to teach the kids different modules of the mine," Holmes said.

Volunteer Dorothy Webb calls the mine "a work in progress" and oversees its day-to-day operations.

"I've been volunteering since 1997. I coordinate all of the student-teachers and all of the volunteers. I've taken more than 25,000 students through the mine and it's a really fun trip for the kids," said the retired medical office employee, whose only prior knowledge of mining came from watching the 1941 film "How Green Was My Valley."

"This is an active learning experience for everyone involved -- for both the children and the docents," she said.

"Most of the volunteer docents are retired, and I'd say that the average age is 78. We all come from different backgrounds. ... We rely strictly on the docents to lead the tours, and we keep adding and needing volunteers. We have really become a great family."

Among the estimated 50 fourth- and fifth-grade pupil-guides that Webb works with are Tyler Bailey and Marissa Smerek, 11-year-olds who enjoy acting like a teacher once or twice a month.

"As tour guides, we explain everything that is here in the mine and talk about what it is like to be a miner. I haven't been in a real mine, but I have visited Pioche where there are mines," Smerek said.

"When they were building the mine, the architects were sent to Disneyland and had to ride the Indiana Jones ride over and over again until they figured out how to make the rock walls."

Dobry confirmed such an excursion was taken, but added the architects also gathered ideas from visits to actual mines.

During a recent visit, Bailey enthusiastically explained how miners panned for gold, how they held onto ropes to find their way through the pitch-black tunnels, and how they used dynamite to blow up rocks. His favorite parts of the site are a caboose located at the project's entrance "where you can climb in and look at different rocks (displayed)," and the animals who have made the garden their home.

"If you look carefully, you can see lizards and prairie dogs outside of the mine in the old town area. I just saw a jack rabbit here the other day," Bailey said.

Donations cover the mine's operating costs, field trip transportation, and training that teachers complete before taking a field trip to the mine. Most funds come from the foundation's annual golf tourney, dinner and auction. At last year's fund-raiser, about $125,000 was raised.

"We would ideally like to be self-sustaining and operate as an endowment some day," Holmes said. "We'd really like to expand our base of sponsors to people out-of-state. We've served as a model to the new biosphere and other hands-on learning projects in the school district, and we'd like to get the word out and help others who might be thinking about undertaking such a project."

If enough funding is received, Holmes envisions creating a reclamation area and silversmith shop on-site, and expanding the project's reach. A March 2003 telecast about mining in Nevada on local PBS station KLVX-TV, Channel 10, is planned.

"We'd like to expand the project, as well as the number of students that we can serve to 8,000 to 9,000 a year. But in order to do that, we need more volunteers to keep the mine open and more money for the bus transportation," Holmes said. "We'd also like to reach out to other parts of the state. Mining is rich in history, especially in places like Elko, Ely and Battle Mountain, and we would like to be able to somehow technologically reach the students up there, either through some type of video-conferencing or distance learning. But to develop that or do anything else, it of course, takes money."S U N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 0 2

Real Estate home