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Students shine up old school for project
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE © St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2001 HERNANDO -- For nine months Inverness Primary School students have been pulling weeds, collecting trash, hammering nails, painting playground equipment and raking the grounds. Each month since the school year began Scott Hebert, Sarah Hebert and Robin Coolbeth took their fifth-grade students and a few fourth-graders to the old Hernando School, also once known as Lakeview School, for a day to clean up and landscape the grounds, and build a new stage. On May 17 they celebrated what they had done. "I'm exhausted" was a common comment when the students returned to school at the end of one of those physically taxing days, Scott Hebert said. His favorite comment was from a student who said, "That was hard work today. We didn't know it was going to be hard work!" Perhaps they didn't, but they can see the rewards of what they did. There are new bushes along the front of the building. The playground equipment looks happy and new with a fresh coat of paint and the new stage was a fitting place to recognize the students, teachers and volunteers who had participated in the beautification of the old school. The community service project was funded by a grant through the Milken Family Foundation, based in California, which states in its brochure: "The major objective of the Festival for Youth Program is to involve as many students as possible in productive, hands-on community service activities." The foundation also provided a kickoff event and last week's Festival for Youth Celebration Day. Standing on the new stage, Hebert told the gathering, which included Inverness Mayor Joyce Rogers, Superintendent Dave Hickey and Milken Family Foundation representative Andrea Canter, that there had been a few bumps and bruises and even "a few tetanus shots," as the program progressed. However, he said, "It is my belief as a teacher that we must connect classroom work with the real world." After being praised and commended by the mayor, superintendent and School Board Chairwoman Patience Nave, several students commented on the work they had done. "We had a blast nailing boards to the stage," said Amber Mekelburg. "I thought the school was a mess," said Wendi Grice, "and could not be fixed, but look at it now!" And she seemed to think that it was a very good thing that both girls and boys built the stage. "You can never trust a boy with a hammer," she said. A plaque commemorating the project will be placed on the stage to remind future visitors what the children of Inverness Primary School have done. School Board member Carol Snyder was impressed with the work the children had done. When the celebration ended with a selection by the Inverness Middle School Jazz Band and a picnic lunch, she took all the children across the street to the Hernando Diner and Ice Cream Shop and treated them to ice cream cones.
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