Dillard Middle School opens Oasis courtyard
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 23, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Lowe's Home Improvement store manager Bobby Byers, right, talks to a group of people about The Oasis at Dillard Middle School during the ribbon cutting and reveal Monday.
Students at Dillard Middle are getting dirty in order to clean up their school and community.
Principal Sonja Emerson welcomed people to the school Monday for the Oasis courtyard ribbon cutting ceremony.
Lowe's Hometown Heroes members helped students construct the 3,520-square-foot enclosure.
"We are changemakers," Mrs. Emerson said during the ceremony. "We want to beautify our campus. Change is needed in the community."
She thanked teachers, school staff, students and Lowe's employees for their hard work and contribution.
A blue ribbon blocked people from walking into the awaited courtyard, but Lowe's department manager Mark Reynolds quickly cut the ribbon for people to view the pinewood vertical fence lining a corner of the courtyard, a pinewood awning over a bench and table, an Oasis sign above the bench and two picnic tables sitting on top of pebbles in the middle of the courtyard. Colorful pillows rested on the bench -- to the surprise of eighth-grade science teacher Kimberly Stedner-Clayton, who designed the layout.
Sixth- and eighth- graders from the Student Government Association and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes decided in May to remodel a section of the school for their project-based learning curriculum.
They surveyed the entire school with assistant principal Jamel Jones, planting flowers outside, but constantly looking for the best place for something new. They picked the area between the cafeteria and the sixth-grade classrooms for lunch and outside instruction.
And the school's beautification project began.
Jones said he was unsure what the project would entail, so he handed it off to Mrs. Stedner-Clayton.
She drew up three plans for a greenhouse, a garden and a courtyard. She then contacted hardware stores for assistance until she finally chose Lowe's Home Improvement store in June.
"Originally for out here, I wanted like eight picnic tables, some butterfly bushes in the pond and everything. We got in touch with Lowe's and showed them what we wanted to do, and they put it on steroids. That's the only way I can explain it."
Lowe's store manager Bobby Byers, assistant manager Steve Twitty and Reynolds told the school's staff about the Hometown Heroes project that puts $2,500 toward a community or school project each year.
Mrs. Emerson, Jones and Mrs. Stedner-Clayton couldn't resist.
The project began two weeks ago, and students planted more flowers, sanded and stained benches and, with supervision, helped cut the wood.
Reynolds said Concrete Countertop Solutions in Pennsylvania and Spartanburg Lumber in South Carolina donated all of the wood. He said the Oasis sign was made from 500-year-old cherry wood.
The project ended the day of the ribbon cutting ceremony when Lowe's employee Kayla Papalia placed the pillows on the bench.
"We want to give back to the community, which we serve and we work," Byers said. "Our purpose at Lowe's is to help people love where they live. To do that, they've got to love the community they live in, work in. Things like this go a long way."
Mrs. Emerson said students have already planted flowers in front of the school.
But Mrs. Emerson said teachers, staff and Lowe's employees showed some students how to dig in the dirt, who have never put their hands in dirt before.
"I saw the passion and the drive of these kids who wanted to give back," Mrs. Emerson said. "This project was a way for the students, with some supervision, to give back to their community because this is their school."