[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 RECOGNIZING SUNSHINE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

 Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
school that is celebrating its 150th year of service to students in 
Springfield, MO. Sunshine Elementary School began serving young people 
during the Civil War. The wooden one-room country school house was 
originally located at what is now the major intersection of Campbell 
Road and Sunshine Lane. During the Civil War, students often witnessed 
the movement of troops along the road known at the time as the Old Wire 
Road. Later, the adjacent Sunshine Drive took its name from the school.
  According to ``So That All May Learn,'' a history of the Springfield 
Public School system published in 1995, Sunshine Elementary School was 
annexed into the Springfield School District in the mid-1920s, and the 
one-room school was relocated and replaced with a larger structure at 
its current location. The original school site, close to what is now 
the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops, was sold by the district in 1930.
  In the boom years following World War II, student growth surged with 
the start of the baby boomer generation. In the late 1940s, student 
enrollment at Sunshine Elementary School grew by 430 kids in a single 
year, creating an overcrowding issue. The solution involved moving 
students in grades five and six to the nearby Phelps School. The first 
major addition to the Sunshine School came in 1950 when six new 
classrooms were built, along with a multipurpose room. Forty years 
later, new restrooms, two classrooms, and a library were added. More 
recently, Sunshine Elementary School became the last traditional school 
building equipped with air conditioning.
  In October, students, faculty, parents and community leaders observed 
the 150th year of educating children at Sunshine Elementary School. 
October 24 was designated as Sunshine Elementary School Day in 
Springfield, which included Civil War reenactors, games, the planting 
of a commemorative tree, food and other fun activities.
  Current and former Sunshine Elementary School students joined 
together for a sesquicentennial celebration at the school. Sunshine 
Elementary School principal David Martin encouraged students, families, 
faculty, and alumni to participate in the sesquicentennial by providing 
oral histories and historical artifacts, including photographs, report 
cards, yearbooks, and newspaper articles.
  Today, more than 200 students attend Sunshine Elementary School. 
Student to teacher ratios are 12 to 1, which is the second best among 
the 36 elementary schools in the Springfield district. In 2014, 
Sunshine Elementary School academically ranks higher than 65.3 percent 
of elementary schools in Missouri and 11th among those in the 
Springfield district. I congratulate Sunshine Elementary School and its 
many alumni and supporters for its decades of continued service and 
success. Happy 150th birthday Sunshine Elementary School.

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