Becky Shepard Scholarship

The Rebecca Shepard Scholarship was established in the late 80’s to honor and recognize the founder of Acorn School. Becky Shepard started the school in 1972 in memory of her grandmother, Jeanie Richardson Kerns, and in honor of childhood – that fleeting but critical period in life where you must encourage children to build confidence in themselves and let their imaginations soar.

She continues to share her musical talent with the Acorn students throughout the year. She encourages singing, movement and creative dramatics through playing the piano, banjo, auto harp and rhythm instruments.

The scholarship monies are awarded to families that would otherwise find this early educational program impossible without some financial assistance.

If you would like to donate to the Becky Shepard Scholarship at the Acorn School, please utilize the below donation button or mail a check to the school with a note indicating your support.

Audrey Frances Myers Scholarship

The Audrey Frances Myers Scholarship Fund was created in memory of our youngest daughter who was stillborn on May 2, 2013, having died quietly in utero from an accidental umbilical cord entanglement.  She was perfect and beautiful and our hearts could not handle the grief of saying both hello and goodbye as we held her in our arms for the first time.

Sue Bendroth left an Acorn School scholarship application on our front porch a year later for our oldest daughter, who was ready to begin preschool, but as we floundered in our grief and financial uncertainty we had yet to take any steps to get her enrolled anywhere.  Looking back, we have realized that receiving that scholarship award changed our lives.  

Reconnecting with Acorn School – where Kymme and her sisters all attended pre-school, where Kymme’s mother (Patsy Thayer) taught for 13 years, where Kymme’s father (Charlie Thayer) moonlighted as Mr. Bingle – turns out to have been the first step in piecing our broken hearts back together.  We watched our daughter flourish as she laughed, played and learned with her newfound friends.  We welcomed each and every warm embrace from Sue.  And we met friends who have become so woven into the fabric of our lives we cannot tell their threads from our own. 

Nothing we can do will bring Audrey back to us, nor will we ever be the same people we were before her loss.  But we can give life to a scholarship so that others can experience the family that is Acorn School, and perhaps at a time when such a place doesn’t seem possible.  The Acorn School gave our family the opportunity to experience the sweetness of each precious childhood moment at a time when we didn’t think we could.  It is our hope that this foundation in Audrey’s memory lives as the school lives, and breathes life into her memory with every child who laughs, plays and wonders at the world around them while being encircled in the embrace of Acorn School. 

We are grateful to Acorn School for permanently designating the Fall Mini Photo session an annual fundraising event for Audrey’s scholarship fund.  We are not the only family to experience the unexpected, to wake up one morning to a world that isn’t anything like the one we were in the day before.  The Fall Mini Photo session helps us ensure that money from Audrey’s scholarship fund will continue to be available to others who need it, just like we did.

 With love,

 Kymme, Jay and Trudy Myers

If you would like to donate to the Audrey Frances Myers Scholarship at the Acorn School, please utilize the below donation button or mail a check to the school with a note indicating your support.