COMMUNITY NEWS

City Pays for 10 New Residential Driveways

Ten Merriam households recently received a new driveway thanks to a City-funded grant.

Homeowners who are income eligible can apply for the Residential Driveway Grant. The grant pays to replace or repair their driveways.

Merriam City Councilmembers invested $90,000 this year to pay for the new driveways. This is the second year the City funded the successful program.

Neighborhood Block Party Grants

Warm weather is here – now’s the perfect time to have a neighborhood block party and get paid to host one!

Merriam residents can get reimbursed up to $300 to host a block party. Get to know your neighbors while enjoying hotdogs and watermelon or having an ice cream social.

Use the Neighborhood Block Party Grant to help cover partyrelated expenses, such as food, paper goods, party favors, and to hire entertainment.

Apply for a grant through Oct. 15 at merriam.org/blockparty.

Merriam is a Tree City USA for the 37th Year in a Row

The City of Merriam is once again a Tree City USA!

Sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation, the award recognizes Merriam’s deep-rooted history in forestry and its commitment to planting trees.

Crestview and Merriam Park elementary students help City staff plant a tree every year around Arbor Day, which was mentioned on the award application. After they helped plant the trees in front of their schools, Mayor Bob Pape and City Councilmembers read an Arbor Day proclamation.

Merriam is one of 3,600 cities across the nation to receive the Tree City USA recognition.

Merriam resident, Patty Byrnes, received the City’s first Hometown Hero Award in April. She called 9-1-1 and performed CPR on a Merriam resident, who she saw fall while he was having a heart attack. The man survived thanks to Patty’s quick actions. Merriam City Councilmembers in April honored Patty with the award.

Community Q&A

Born and raised in Olathe, Mary Krejci, and her husband, Jason, moved to Merriam with their daughter, Sawyer, in 2013.

Mary has taught kindergarten and first grade students since 2010. Mary has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in multicultural education. Mary recently won the Kansas City Star’s first Honor Roll award for making a difference in a student’s life. When she’s not teaching at Piper Prarie Elementary School, Mary loves to travel with her family and renovate their home.

Why did you become a teacher?

I wanted to become a teacher when I fell in love with school in kindergarten. I loved school every year – especially the smell of school when I got back from summer vacation.

What do you like most about teaching?

I like building relationships with my students and watching them grow and change throughout the year.

What keeps you going each year?

I think the biggest thing that keeps me coming back is knowing that for this small window of time in my students’ lives, I’m leading them and teaching them – not just academics, but life skills that, hopefully, they hold on to for the rest of their lives.

How did you find out about the Honor Roll award?

I was nominated by one of my previous students, Cameron. His family found out about the award. It was a bracket-style competition, so I had to keep winning each round. I had a lot of people rooting for me. I found out I won at Piper Prairie’s school board meeting. I was shocked.

What was it like to win this award?

Teaching is an incredibly rewarding but incredibly hard job. We don’t often get accolades for the work we do. The Honor Roll award was a reminder that even though it may not be obvious in our day-to-day work, people notice and appreciate what we’re doing in the classroom with their students.

How are you preparing for the upcoming school year?

I’ll be going to my classroom soon to start getting it prepped and ready for the next round of students I get to meet in August! To my incoming students, I hope they know how excited I am to meet them, and I hope they’re ready to have a lot of fun in Mrs. Krejci’s class!