Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Trudy Wischropp, Armor Academy
At a glance: After 24 years of teaching in public schools, Trudy Wischropp felt called to open a learning academy of her own. When a former one-room school became available, she and her husband moved it close to their home and renovated it for use.
More information: Ron Wilson, rwilson@ksu.edu, 785-532-7690
Photos: Ron Wilson | Trudy Wischropp
Website: Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Oct. 14, 2026
Distribution of the weekly Kansas Profile column will end on October 21, due to writer Ron Wilson’s upcoming retirement from Kansas State University. The final column will post October 21. Thank you for your interest in Kansas Profile.
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
Let’s step into a one-room schoolhouse located in a rural Kansas field. There’s the students and there’s the teacher. A picture of George Washington hangs on the wall near the slate board.
On the other end of the room is a different kind of board: A state-of-the-art 60 inch interactive digital smart board connected to wi-fi.
At left: Trudy Wischropp | Download this photo
It makes one wonder: What kind of one room school is this? It’s a modern-day, innovative, faith-based education site located in rural Kansas.
Trudy Wischropp is the founder of Armor Academy, an innovative educational program based in a historic one-room schoolhouse. She grew up near Horton as the youngest of 10 children.
“My mom was my first teacher, although she wouldn’t have called it that,” Wischropp said. “I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher.”
Wischropp went to Emporia State University where she met and married her husband, Craig, whose mother was a long-time teacher too.
After graduation, Wischropp took elementary and middle school teaching positions back home in northeast Kansas. She and Craig raised three children, the oldest of which has graduated from K-State.
When the COVID pandemic began, teaching by distance was very difficult. “Teaching online was so hard,” Wischropp said. “The Lord put the idea of a one-room school in my mind.”
After COVID, she got excited about teaching kids and seeing them learning again in person.
After 24 years of teaching in the public schools, she decided to start an independent, faith-based teaching program of her own. She opened a learning academy with three home-schooled, part-time students in her home.
Meanwhile, the Wischropps learned of a former one-room schoolhouse in the nearby rural community of Everest, population 265 people. Now, that’s rural.
The building was a country school that had been moved to Everest in the 1950s and used off and on by the American Legion and others.
“It’s in great shape,” Wischropp said. She and Craig bought the building and moved it to a field near their home outside Horton. They renovated it and added a modern kitchen and bathroom with indoor plumbing and lighting.
In fall 2026, she moved her learning academy into the newly renovated building.
She calls it Armor Academy, based on the Bible verse that reads, “Put on the full armor of God…” It is a described as a Kindergarten to 8th grade Christian micro-school for full- and part-time students.
Wischropp has 15 students, including those who are attending part-time. A former teacher comes in to help with the primary students on some mornings. “The curriculum is built around the attributes of God,” she said.
Wischropp incorporates what she considers the best curricula from her more than two decades of teaching. A typical school day includes a Bible verse and prayer, with reading and writing in the morning and math in the afternoon. Other teachers come in part-time for music, physical education and art. A local librarian teaches history.
Wischropp maintains her teaching license, participates in in-service trainings, and welcomes innovation. “We are schooling differently,” Wischropp said. “For example, we don’t do grades, we do goals.”
Goals are set at the beginning of the year and adjusted as necessary. “We’re going to keep working on something until the students master it,” she said.
“I ask the older kids to help the younger kids,” she said. “It feels like a family.”
This one-room school is also equipped with amazing technology. Rainbow Communications, the local rural telecom company, provided a grant to equip the school with a 60 inch interactive smart board connected to the internet.
“We can circle words on a website or call up a webcam to watch giraffes in Africa,” Wischropp said.
That’s a far cry from the chalk dust that I remember in school.
“I believe the Lord has called me to do this,” Wischropp said. “I love the children. They have the best perspective, and we want to serve the community.”
For more information, see www.armoracademy.net.
It’s time to leave this one-room school where family values merge with modern technology. We commend Trudy Wischropp for making a difference with innovative education.
That is a one-room school for tomorrow.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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