In light of last month’s 2018 World Equestrian Games taking place at nearby Mill Spring, fourth-grade teachers at Tryon Elementary wanted to give their students an opportunity to learn from the games, and discover more about some of the 67 countries that were represented in the competition.

Tryon Elementary has three 4th-grade classes this year. Each classroom was given a task to learn about 10 countries (overall total of 30 nations).

After selecting the nations, the students were challenged to determine the number of miles from Tryon to the capital of their country. This information vitally important to demonstrate to the fourth-graders how far all of the riders and their horses had to travel to get to Polk County.

For their physical project, the students worked in pairs and created a special sign that listed their country and the miles to Tryon.

The fourth-grade project was aided by Polk County High School construction teacher Keith Rimer, who, along with his construction students, helped cut out, sand and pre-drill the wooden signs. The elementary students painted each sign, and also painted the lettering and mileage for each of the 30 nations.

In addition, Kathryn McMahon, director of community engagement at the 2018 WEG venue, Tryon International Equestrian Center, helped provide the list of participating nations. Volunteer John Vining helped coordinate the overall project.

The closest nation for Karen Prady’s class was Guatemala, and the farthest was New Zealand. Pam Vining’s closest nation was Bermuda, and the farthest was Thailand. Angie Upton’s closest nation was Mexico, and the farthest was Australia. Bermuda was the overall closest country at 1,021 miles and Australia was the farthest at 9,566 miles. 

The signs are currently on display at Tryon Elementary, along School Street.

– Submitted article