Beloved Wisconsin author, historian and storyteller Jerry Apps has built a fruitful partnership with Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), sharing stories of rural life and lore in four popular films since 2012. Now, Apps returns to WPT for a fifth time to share memories from his time at a one-room school in Waushara county.
WPT's new documentary Jerry Apps: One-Room School premieres 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6 on WPT and 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 13 on Milwaukee PBS. This documentary is a companion to the Wisconsin Historical Society Press books "One-Room Country Schools: History and Recollections" by Jerry Apps and "One Room Schools: Stories from the Days of 1 Room, 1 Teacher, 8 Grades" by Susan Apps-Bodilly.

In this new program, Apps shares vivid and humorous stories from his time as a student at Chain O'Lake School in Waushara County. Viewers will explore the one-room school experience through Apps' vibrant storytelling, and travel back to a time when one teacher taught eight grades. Learn about the wide-ranging curriculum, holiday traditions, recess fun and how Apps' school experience shaped his childhood and inspired his career as an educator.

WPT's previous Jerry Apps documentaries – Jerry Apps: A Farm Story, A Farm Winter With Jerry Apps, The Landh Jerry Apps and Jerry Apps: Never Curse the Rain ­– received national attention from PBS and were made available to audiences across the country. Apps' heartwarming, relatable stories of childhood and rural life appeal to farm kids and city kids alike.

In addition to broadcasting the television program, WPT will also give viewers a chance to share their own early education stories online after the premiere of Jerry Apps: One-Room School. Watch wpt.org this March for a chance to tell your story and read recollections from others.

Funding for Jerry Apps: One Room School is provided in part by Ron and Colleen Weyers, Joel and Carol Gainer, Greg and Carol Griffin Family, Morgan's Shoes, Wisconsin History Fund (supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
Wisconsin Public Television is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA- TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.