MARFA –– As the 2022-23 school year draws to a close, the Marfa Education Foundation (MEF) announces the hire of its first executive director, Abby Boyd. Boyd, a Marfa resident since 2016, comes most recently from the City of Marfa where she served as director of tourism. She has been at the helm of the Marfa Chamber of Commerce since 2021, where she has focused on community-driven programming with a reinvigorated board and body of business members.
“We are so very pleased to bring Abby Boyd onboard as our first executive director for MEF,” said Susan Kirr, president of MEF. “Abby brings a lot of passion, vision and energy to the school and to our mission to facilitate and augment the education of Marfa students. Abby has excellent ties throughout the wider Marfa community, and will help us to grow, and to take MEF to the next level.”
MEF’s mission is to support and enhance the education of the district’s students and to facilitate enrichment projects, both curricular and extra-curricular. The organization’s 2022-23 budget was $267,000, an amount that has increased annually to accommodate long-standing programs, such as robotics, Marfa Live Arts writing programs, dual credit classes, literacy assistance, teacher grants, Marfa Studio of Arts art classes, teacher appreciation events, and support improvements to the school library. These programs have been made possible by relationships with major funders Permian Basin Area Foundation, the Still Water Foundation, Abell Hanger Foundation, the Wayne & JoAnn Moore Charitable Foundation, the Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation, Donald & Carole Chaikin Foundation, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, and many individual donors in the Marfa community.
The last two years have seen major increases in programs in part thanks to special gifts like the one from Erin Barker of Marfa Art Supply, who provided high-quality art materials. Other recent additions to resources facilitated by MEF include teacher stipends, new software for yearbooks, magazines and periodicals, software for PE classes, improvements to art classrooms, environmental field trips, travel to state and national competitions, renovation of the MISD auditorium, teacher workroom upgrades and improvements to campus security. MEF has also given out $30,000 in scholarships to former MISD students who are sophomores, juniors or seniors in college. Mary Lynne Reinagel and Billy and Kay Hester — parents of Marfa resident Jeffrey Hester, who passed away in 2021 — gave a very generous donation from the sale of Jeffrey’s art, supporting initiatives in the school that will be used in the 2023-24 school year.
Looking to the year ahead, Boyd says she is excited to continue MEF’s established work with MISD and find even more ways to support students and staff. “We want to make sure to get as much time with Mr. Aguero as we can before his departure in June, and we will do all we can to support the incoming superintendent. We want to make sure Marfa kids have access to the tools that will let them reach their full potential,” said Boyd. MEF will continue to host events and offer support through the end of the school year, concluding with a lunch for MISD teachers and staff at Cibolo Creek Ranch. More information can be found on their website at marfaeducationfoundation.org.
