Elise R. Schweich (1909-2009)
FOUNDER

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A copper vessel used by pioneers for warming their feet on transcontinental journeys was especially interesting, Mrs. Schweich remembers. She would fill the vessel with scalding water to show the students just how much heat it conducted. Eventually, word got around St. Louis that Elise Schweich was up to something good in the public schools. “A number of people saw what I was doing, or heard about what I was doing, and jumped on the bandwagon,” Mrs. Schweich says.

A board was formed, more teachers signed on, and the program was launched. The walls of Mrs. Schweich’s office are covered with testaments to her public and private accomplishments: a letter of gratitude from a former Missouri governor, a proclamation of appreciation from the state house, photographs of her on her travels, images of her son, her daughter, her four grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

Once there was a teacher who went into a school carrying a fish. Today there are more than 60 teachers who go into schools carrying drums, beakers, Japanese fans, fresh pencils and paper, sponges, beads, coins, photographs, paints, sea shells, feathers, masks, and all the wealth of stories and information and empathy they carry in their hearts. From one came many, as happens with flowers lucky enough to have a bee around.