Sam Boardman Elementary School

Boardman is a small Columbia River town in the high desert of northeastern Oregon, where agriculture and wind energy define the landscape and tight-knit community life is the norm. Sam Boardman Elementary serves a predominantly working-class, Spanish-speaking population, and families here tend to be deeply rooted in the area's farming and labor industries. The school faces real academic challenges — particularly in English — but for families committed to the community, it offers the kind of small-town setting where kids and teachers genuinely know each other.