Shumla School members forge new bonds, raise funds for kids

March 17, 2008
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

Flirting with the century mark, both afternoon temperatures and crowd size at the Shumla School Members’ Event continued warming participants’ enthusiasm, even as sundown breezes cooled the desert campus. Founder and Director Dr. Carolyn Boyd was ebullient when the gala wound down from a climax of raising more than $5,500, Saturday night (March 15).

The Ides of March brought no foreboding about the challenges ahead for the school, now billed as Shumla, International Center for Rock Art Research and Education. Rather, a day of hands-on activities for adults and youngsters, followed by a robust dinner and tough auction bidding set a tone for celebration of recent accomplishments and exuberance for the future. Shumla thrives on partnerships, persistently negotiated by Boyd and her staff; and the 2008 Members’ Event classically illustrated such ties that bind.

Willie Canseco, 12, tosses an atlatl-propelled spear downrange, while sister, Susana, and friend Cody Miller, 9, watch. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)	Natalie and Victoria Khoury wait for rock art painting instructions, as Shumla patrons and Amistad Water Sports owners Sug and Thelda Courtney look on. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)
Primitive technologist and friction-fire instructor Neal Stilley explains to his workshop audience the principles and techniques of fire-starting with ancient principles and techniques. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)	Members’ Event diners descend on a rich repast of southwestern chili, pinto beans, two styles of cornbread, homemade bread, tortillas and a variety of condiments. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

 

Facilitators staffing afternoon learning stations included atlatl coach Jack Harrington, rock art painter Angel Johnson, desert botanist and earth oven specialist Jack Johnson, primitive tools craftsman Steve Norman, and friction fire technologist “Matchless” Neal Stilley. Lead cook for the event, Donna Mueller and pastry chef Gayle Scott came from their respective ranches near La Grange for the repast that satisfied and amazed everyone. Auction item donors included Shumla staff, board members and patrons. Jennifer Ramage, Shumla research and operations adminstrator, orchestrated the entire event, start to finish.

Southwest Texas LIVE! Publisher Joe Hyde served as the 2008 Members’ Event auctioneer, wheedling and cajoling good prices for nearly all auction items, making the generous audience laugh – and bid, again – as the evening drew to a close. And before the bidding began, Boyd addressed the audience with profound gratitude for the hearty turnout and enthusiasm.

“Well, first I will tell you, this is our 10th anniversary. How about that?” Boyd outlined a brief history of the Shumla School, beginning with her arrival as the first and only staff member. The organization was granted tax exempt status as a 501(c)3 non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service in 1998, and has accumulated hundreds of thousands in grants from foundations far from Val Verde County. And that’s one of the challenges the organization faces, according to Boyd, the need to garner more local support.

As evidence of the growth and success to date, Boyd said, “I can tell you we have served more than 12,000 children, right here at Shumla.” The kids have come from public and private schools in Eagle Pass, Del Rio and beyond for the Pecos Kids Experience, a day of the same kinds of hands-on learning Members’ Event participants saw. The children’s experiences, however, were augmented by pre-visit classroom orientation and post-visit evaluations that revealed demonstrably enhanced understanding of scientific and cultural principles.

Pastry cook Gayle Scott, also from La Grange, Texas, right, and a squad of helpers assemble the dinner’s amazing variety of fruit bars, cakes, pies, and puddings in the pavilion kitchen. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Dr. Carolyn Boyd and her father, Walker, share a brief pause in the action with conversation among Members’ Event patrons. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Boyd introduces a few of the worker bees who have helped launch Niños del Rio Bravo workshops in Ciudad Acuña. From right, they are Héctor Vásquez Martinez, Acuña location human resources manager, Alcoa Fujikura Ltd., Kim Canseco, Del Rio/Acuña civic leader, and Blanca Lopez, treasurer for Asociación Vida de Acuña. All have played pivotal roles in coordinating the new educational thrust for Acuña schoolchildren modeled after Shumla School teaching principles. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Carolyn Boyd thanks her dad, Walker, with affection for his role in converting an old Comstock home into the Shumla research center, while Shumla Board President Elton Prewitt, donor (with his wife, Kerza) of a $250,000 endowment to operate the new research function. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

Boyd recapped the school’s recent focus on taking those principles south of the border, to Ciudad Acuña, and she urged the audience’s recognition of workers – coordinators and teachers – from the Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Acuña attending the event. Boyd also urged a round of applause for civic leaders and granting organizations that facilitated the kickoff of the Niños del Rio Bravo in Acuñas Parque Braulio Fernandez Aguirre last week. (See http://www.swtexaslive.com/node/6369) “I have never seen such an outpouring of support,” Boyd affirmed, adding that the effort there will provide educational services for up to 2,000 students.

Then Boyd introduced Shumla Board President Elton Prewitt and his wife, Kerza, explaining that the couple had pledged $250,000 in the last year to create the David Dibble Research Endowment to add a research “wing” to the Shumla sphere of influence.

In addition, Boyd explained that her father, Walker Boyd, now living in one of several homes he’s restored there, purchased the home and property adjacent to the Shumla offices. Walker Boyd has nearly completed a massive restoration of that building, to be used by Boyd and her research assistant, Angel Johnson, as a focal point of the research wing facilitated by the Prewitt’s gift. In an emotion-laden standing ovation, Boyd brought both Elton Prewitt and Walker Boyd to the front of the room, giving her dad a kiss and both men a hug.

Southwest Texas LIVE! and San Angelo LIVE! Publisher Joe Hyde keeps the crowd motivated with humor and fast-tracking of bids, serving as auctioneer for the 2009 Members’ Event. A dozen items, services and events were on the block, raising nearly $6,000 to cover costs of up to 100 schoolchildren at the school’s Pecos River Kids workshops. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)	The collection of tools, materials, instructions and a hand-woven Mexican Zapotec blanket was assembled by Shumla archeologist Jack Johnson. The successful high bid was $530. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)
A basket of reference books, signed by noted authors, notecards, and tea was a popular item during the auction, going to the highest bidder for $375. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)	The last of a series of five renderings by Carolyn Boyd, drawn from Rattlesnake Canyon rock art went to Del Rio businessman Nick Khoury. The successful bid on the 12-inch-by-24-inch print was $600. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

 

Prewitt told the crowd, “The Dibble Research Endowment is just a beginning, another beginning for Shumla. Shumla has developed a model [for education] that is now beginning to be picked up elsewhere.” Prewitt said it’s time for that trend to follow in the area of archeological research at Shumla, as well.

Finally, Hyde was introduced to begin the bidding on the first of a dozen items auctioned to bolster funding for the Pecos River Kids Experience sessions. With true auctioneer style and humor, Hyde reviewed the auction catalog description of each item or service offered, asserted a minimum bid, and launched into his spiel and repartee with registered bidders.

Offered items, descriptions, winning bids and bidders are:

1. “Desert Bounty Basket” of mesquite meal, prickly pear syrup, potted agave, pickly pear and dwarf cactus, wildflower seeds, autographed tree guide by author Pattie Leslie Pazstor, and mesquite honey with recipes. $150, Jennifer Ramage, Del Rio.
2. “Autographed Research Collection,” consisting of publications by Dr. James D. Keyser, Dr. Carolyn Boyd, Jack Skiles, Mary Black, Dr. Phil Dering, and custom notecards of pictographs rendered by Boyd, a pottery mug, and exotic teas. $375, Bill Prothro.
3. “Primitive Technology Basket,” featuring an atlatl spearthrower, friction fire-starting kit, rabbit stick, flintknapping kit, red ochre pigment, a skills book on making prehistoric tools, apparel and structures, and a handmade Zapotec blanket. $530, Marietta Tretter.
   • During this bidding, Hyde interrupted the process when it lagged, recounting a quote from the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Michigan, where he studied music. Emblazoned on an inside wall of the Kresge Auditorium there is the message, “Dedicated to the Promotion of World Friendship through the Universal Language of the Arts.” Hyde urged bidders to support Shumla’s goal to use ancient arts as a universal language to promote global understanding.
4. “Handmade Lechuguilla Basket with Cochineal-Dyed Fibers,” a woven, seven-inch-diameter vessel made by Brenda Norman. $325, Susana Canseco, Austin.
5. “VIP Rock Art Tour and Overnight,” a customized trip for four participants guided by Dr. Carolyn Boyd and Elton Prewitt, followed by a gourmet meal and fireside chats at Shumla Ranch. $1,000, Nick Khoury, Del Rio.
6. “Limited Edition Rattlesnake Canyon Rendering,” an artistic recreation by Boyd of a famed Lower Pecos panel of ancient art, the last available piece in a series of five printings. $600, Nick Khoury, Del Rio.
7. “Night Sky Tour: Guided Astronomy,” an evening with Shumla archelogist Jack Johnson, using his 10-inch-diameter reflector telescope to examine the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, nebulas, and galaxies. $325, Kim Canseco, Del Rio.
8. “Pecos River Kayaking Excursion,” donated by Sug and Thelda Courtney, guided by Jack Johnson to see Parida Cave, followed by a barbecue at the edge of Lake Amistad, for four people. $825, Kim Canseco, Del Rio.
9. “Hand-carved mesquite rattlesnake sculpture,” a beautiful, last-minute addition, carved by Jimmie Kothmann, to the inventory of auction items. $470, Kim Cox, Corpus Christi.
10. “Gourmet Dinner for Six,” offered by the Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen volunteers, including a fully-prepared, served dinner with cleanup in the winning bidder’s home. $300, Danielle Hill.
11. “Homemade Cocoanut Cream Pie,” offered by pastry chef Gayle Scott, La Grange. $65, Jack Skiles.
12. "Dinner at Del Rio's The Herald Restaurant," donated by Nick Khoury who threw in a bottle of wine selected by him, $425, Dr. Tom and Donna Mueller.

 

One of the most unique items in Saturday night’s auction was a hand-carved mesquite rattlesnake, carved by Jimmie Kothmann.  Shumla board member Kim Cox, Corpus Christi, took it home for $470. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

The last item in the Saturday night auction was one of Gayle Scott’s luxurious cocoanut cream pies. It went home to Langtry with Jack Skiles for his $65 bid. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag) (click image to enlarge)

When the $5,930 total of evening gifts, donations and auction proceeds was revealed, Boyd rose to announce, “That equates to 100 kids coming to Shumla. Thank you all so much!”