Paula Albrandt Leads Overland Trail Museum Prairie School for 40 Years

Paula Albrandt has led the Overland Trail Museum’s Prairie School in Sterling for 40 years, sustaining a volunteer-driven summer program that teaches children “old time school lessons” and places older kids alongside younger students in hands-on learning. Her long tenure anchors a local tradition that connects Logan County children to the region’s past while relying on community volunteers to operate each summer.

Albrandt describes the Prairie School’s classroom work as tactile and faith-infused: “It’s the best kind of teaching experience ever. Older kids helping younger students is great to see. Bible stories and praying are part of the program, which the kids do enjoy. Hands on and on and on! Kids can step right into the history book,” she said. Those classroom elements shape the program’s daily routine and distinguish the museum’s offering from conventional summer camps in Sterling.

Volunteers are central to the program’s continuity. “Volunteers have made this program happen. Volunteers make the world go round,” Albrandt said, crediting community members who staff the school sessions and mentor student teachers. She emphasizes training new instructors, noting explicitly that “The training of new teachers is something Albrandt enjoys doing and new teachers are always wanted,” a line museum organizers use when recruiting help.

Prospective volunteers and teachers are being asked to reach out directly to museum staff. “Let museum staff know if you have experience and desire to join the team,” the program publicity instructs, signaling an active volunteer drive ahead of the coming season at the Overland Trail Museum in Sterling. The museum has not published specific attendance numbers in the material provided, but the call for experienced volunteers underscores reliance on local labor to keep the program running.

Beyond Prairie School, Albrandt leads a local nonprofit emergency-services effort. Paula Albrandt is also president of Under the Umbrella Logan County Colorado, a non profit charity in Sterling; “They have been serving free meals and helping people with emergency housing and such since 2015,” the organization’s activities are described. That dual role ties a heritage-education initiative to direct community services, linking summer programming to broader household and food-security concerns in Logan County.

Albrandt frames the program’s longevity in spiritual as well as communal terms. “The Lord has blessed this program, he really has. I really don’t do much to make it happen. He does,” she said, concluding a portrait of a volunteer-led summer tradition that has lasted four decades and continues to recruit new teachers and community supporters in Sterling.