- Prairie Queen
- Overview
-
In 2015, The Papillion LaVista School Board approved the name Prairie Queen for it's newest elementary school, after a one-room school house erected in 1884 for $1000 near the area Prairie Queen Elementary stands now.
PLCS Administrators officially dedicated the new Prairie Queen Elementary School Sept. 29, 2015, attended by sourounding community members, including nine former students of the original Prairie Queen one-room schoolhouse. Former students had advocated for keeping the Prairie Queen name alive, including Becky Siebold Crowfoot who's entire family went to the old school which closed in 1957. "All of us think it's very important to make note of history and to honor the history of the area and make sure it isn't forgotten," said Mrs. Crowfoot to an attending news reporter. The former students visited with current students and explained how teachers used to stoke the school's stove for heat and how going to the restroom meant going outside to the outhouse. No one really recalls how the original Prairie Queen name came about, but we never want to forget our current Prairie Queen Elementary was built on the backs of hardworking farm families who helped shape the entire Papillion community we know today. One very special art piece graces our front office window -- a quilt crafted by then PLCS board member Connie Bowen. The front of the quilt is designed in a pattern actually called "Prairie Queen" and she used seed cloth in our Prairie Queen colors -- Red, Gold and Black. The back of the quilt includes 16 squares created by our original K-6 classrooms and specialists. Our original student body was 242.
Through the years our numbers have grown and we're no longer the newest elementary in the district after Ashbury Elementary opened their doors in 2020. We've evolved after losing beloved PQ families from district boundry changes and succesfully stayed in school during a global pandemic. We know our journey is far from over, but we believe since we opened our doors in 2015, on the promise of always celebrating those who came before us from that one room school house, the brick and motor has come alive to form a school community that is courageous, compassionate and willing to become all the things we've never been!