Kids earn grant to fix gym floor
As fourth- through sixth-grade students shoot hoops |
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The students in Mrs. Michelle Whitehead’s class look forward to playing the basketball game “lightening” on a newly sealed floor. The students, in grades four through eight, are: (back row l-r) Ashly Miller, Chantel Schroeder and Madison Laurie; (middle row l-r) Logan Woodcock, Travis Dickson, Tonia Dickson and Jaszman Vogel; and (front row l-r) Danielle Schuler and Tory Dickson. |
in the warm autumn sunshine during recess, cattle graze in the pasture just north of the Baldwin Public School. Soon enough, bitter winds will blow and the students will reluctantly take their basketballs indoors for the winter.
Life is refreshingly simple in this small town served by Capital Electric Cooperative, where 24 students attend kindergarten through eighth grade. The school, while more than 85 years old, provides a mostly safe environment where students can learn and play. But last year, parents became concerned when cracks in the concrete gym floor made activities like playing basketball dangerous.
“When we had the terrible cold days and then it would warm up, we had moisture coming up in those cracks which made the gym floor slippery. Then we’d have basketball games and the kids would slip on the floor,” says Cheryl Woodcock, who lives north of Baldwin with her husband, Woody, and their son Logan, who attends the fifth grade.
“It’s certainly a concern, so we need to get it repaired. Basketball season will start soon and students from four area schools will use our gym. We also hold school programs and welcome visitors like parents and grandparents. So it’s not only for our own kids’ safety, but for everyone else. We just want to have a safe floor.”
Local parents and teachers talked to contractors and reviewed their options. The most economical option for the gym, which was added on to the school about 50 years ago, is repairing the cracks and sealing the floor. Fortunately, contractors say this will eliminate the moisture problem. Unfortunately, it will cost about $5,500.
Cheryl and another mother, Brenda Schuler, decided to hold a fundraiser. In April 2006, they held a pancake, egg and sausage breakfast at the school. All the parents and children participated, and Cheryl says it was a big day. Their efforts helped raise $2,100.
The parents cooked, and the kids served juice and coffee. After the breakfast, they all scrubbed pots, wiped down tables and put the dishes away. Cheryl says the kids seem to appreciate the cooperative-style spirit of working together to meet a common goal.
“They needed to learn they have to work hard to get what they want,” Cheryl says.
The benefit raised about half the money needed to fix the floor, so Cheryl and Brenda wrote letters to area businesses asking for donations. When Wes Engbrecht, director of communications and public relations for Capital Electric Cooperative, received a letter from Cheryl asking for a donation, he sent her an application for Operation Round Up. She filled it out and sent it in, and says she was surprised and happy to learn the school would receive a grant.
“I brought more than 10 kids to co-op headquarters to accept the grant on their behalf. We’ve worked really hard trying to raise money to pay for the floor, and this donation will be a big help,” she says.
Cheryl says the parents plan to have the floor fixed by January 2008. They will proceed with construction when they’ve raised the remainder of the money necessary to make the repairs.