How some donated land became a bounty for a small town’s students

Texas Standard commentator WF Strong says the Gruver Farm Scholarship Foundation has already made a multi-generational impact. The full transcript of this episode of Stories from Texas is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.

The post How some donated land became a bounty for a small town’s students appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Over the years that I've been doing
Texas commentaries, I've
often highlighted the extraordinary
philanthropic gifts that have made
Texas an exceptional state.
From large foundations like the
Houston Endowment to Individual
Gifts, like the 1.2 million
that William McDonald left for U.T.
to buy a telescope
which resulted in the McDonald

(00:21):
Observatory.
This next story is about an
immigrant's gift from long ago
that has resulted in transformative
effects for a small Texas
town.
Karl Nielsen immigrated to Texas in
1901 and settled
up in the Panhandle and Gruver,
20 miles south of the Oklahoma
line.
He was somewhat representative of

(00:42):
what Garrison Keillor used to call
a Norwegian bachelor farmer,
except for the fact that he was from
Denmark.
He never married and lived with his
sister for many years.
She died well before he did.
He lived to be 105.
When he died in 1984,
out of gratitude for the great life
he had had there, he willed a

(01:02):
section of land to the Gruver School
district.
In total, 640 acres
or 6.7mi²,
no slouch of a gift.
For years, the school district
leased the land for about 25,000
a year, which bought books and
science beakers.
And that was about all.
Wade Calloway, the current
superintendent of Grew Variety,

(01:22):
told me that sometime around 2012,
former superintendent David Teel
and a local farmer named Chad
Logsdon had an interesting
conversation in a pickup truck.
Mr. Calloway pointed out that this
is where many visionary
conversations are held in
the Panhandle.
By the way, this took place in a
pickup truck at a football game.

(01:43):
You can't get any more Texas than
that.
Mr. Teel told Mr. Logsdon
that the acreage was an
underperforming asset.
He said that they could farm that
section of land themselves and get
up to 400,000 a year
for college and trade school tuition
for their students.
They could make the dream of college
a reality for all the Groover

(02:04):
kids who wanted the opportunity.
Quite a beautiful thing for a
community of 1200
people.
Mr. Logsdon loved the ideas
of the Groover Farm Scholarship
Foundation was formed that year.
The plan was that every year lead
farmer would be chosen to organize
volunteer farmers to plant, harvest
and take the corn to market.

(02:25):
They would donate their tractors,
tractor time and diesel, and
corporations would donate seed and
fertilizer.
Individuals in the community would
donate money for bags of seeds
and fertilizer to help out as best
they could.
That is exactly how it played out.
The entire community rose to the
occasion, including banks, insurance
companies and feedlots.
It was a perfect storm

(02:47):
of generosity.
I even looked at the foundation's
salaries for their officers and
board members, added All together,
it came to zero.
That's highly unusual.
It took four years to get a running
start before they could fund the
first graduating class.
At the end of those first four
years, they had a balance of nearly

(03:09):
$1 million in the fund.
The first class to receive funds was
a 2016 class.
That year, $350,000
was awarded for college and trade
school tuition.
Students went to schools all over.
Many went to West Texas A&M and
some to Texas Tech and some to Wired
tech way up in Laramie to get a
degree in diesel mechanics.

(03:30):
How did they qualify for the
scholarships?
There was a point system which gave
out points for academic achievement,
like your GPA for extracurricular
activity. You could get points for
sports or cheerleading or band
all at the same rate.
You could also get points for Uol
participation in theater, arts
or debate.
Finally, you could get points for
community engagement for 24

(03:51):
hours of community service a year,
which included mowing lawns for the
elderly or setting up tables
over at the Baptist Church for their
annual picnic.
Superintendent Calloway said, We are
growing graduates and we
are growing.
Good neighbors.
Additionally, if a student graduates
college in four years, they can get
funding for a master's degree.

(04:12):
These days, even the teachers can
tap into the fund.
If a teacher in the Groove Horizon
wants a master's degree, they can
get support from the foundation,
too. Very smart.
The rising tide is lifting all
boats.
From 2016 to 2020,
the foundation saw 59 of their
scholars graduate from college.
23 were first

(04:32):
generation college students.
That is a stat that is itself
philanthropic because it will lead
to greater educational success for
their children.
To date, the fund is awarded 2.5
million to 277
students, 230
bushels per acre over six years
converts to 218 graduates.

(04:52):
That's a beautiful yield,
a bountiful harvest.
I'm WF
Strong. These are stories from
Texas.
Some of them are
splendidly true.