CalSERVES: Make a Difference Day Part 3: RL Stevens and Wright Schools

Friday, November 2, 2012

Make a Difference Day Part 3: RL Stevens and Wright Schools

Make a Difference Day, October 27th, 2012, saw some amazing projects around the CalSERVES school sites as AmeriCorps members joined together to provide a day of service. What follows is the third post in series of 3 outlining the projects competed by CalSERVES AmeriCorps members. Each post is written by a Team Leader who worked on that specific project.

In my twenty-four years, I have been lucky enough to travel. I've seen the world. Indeed only a tiny fraction, but I've toured Europe, hitting the highlights: Italy, France, Switzerland, Ireland, etc... And let's not forget that for the past two years, I have been hiding from my frosty Minnesota home in Sunny California, which is where this story takes place.

As I mentioned, I've seen the world. Most importantly for this blog, I have become cultured in those countries: Donatello, Rafael, and Leonardo are more than just Ninja Turtles. They are brilliant artists. And I have seen work from each of them. After Make a Difference Day though, the Renaissance has nothing on Wright Charter or RL Stevens.

The Wright District Dream Team was together at Wright Charter School to work on a beautification project. We had the lofty goal of repainting benches, weeding out the garden, adding a map of the USA onto the blacktop, and oh yeah, painting a mural of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in our main hall.

AmeriCorps member David Ortiz puts on the finishing touches of the newly painted benches in front of the school.

When the ideas were conceived I knew how necessary it was to spruce up our old school, but I didn't know how realistic the goal was. Were a handful of AmeriCorps members going to have the capacity or, not to mention the resources to pull this off?

What we didn't consider is that we work with some of the most thoughtful, caring, engaged, and responsible kids, teachers, parents, and staff in the world. That is, several students, a handful of teachers, and representatives from Wright's PTC all showed up to shine up our old classrooms. Last, with a generous donation from Kelly Moore Paint, we made our goals a reality.

Students at Wright came out to help with projects at their school.

No cartographer could have stenciled the United States like the RL Stevens team did. Our newly weeded garden is practically Zen-like now that our middle schoolers tore into it. 15 hours later, a cadre of CalSERVians, 2 Wright Mentor Teachers, and of course a dozen of our finest 7th and 8th grade artists immortalized Ellen Nanni's rendering of MLK.

AmeriCorps members were working hard on tracing out the 50 states and painting them in.

Like I said, in my short twenty-four years, I've seen a few things. I've been around. But it wasn't until this Saturday that I've witnessed a community come together more seamlessly than this one did. The school, especially the mural, is, thanks to hard work, and most importantly, extra hands a masterpiece. I'll even go out on a limb and say that Wright is on its way to becoming the new Sistine Chapel. Eat your heart out, Michelangelo!