New program makes an ‘IMPACT’ on community
ABOVE: Bellefontaine High School junior Cavon Brown, left, and Bellefontaine Middle School eighth-grader Ty Leeper apply mulch Thursday to newly landscaped areas of the BHS courtyard as part of the IMPACT program’s clean-up effort this week. HOME PAGE SLIDE SHOW PHOTO: Ohio Hi-Point Career Center landscaping student Ben Brunswick, right, spray paints a chair Thursday at the Bellefontaine High School courtyard as a part of the IMPACT program’s clean-up effort, including the installation of 134 plants, including hostas, daylilies, hydrangeas, grasses and daisies. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | MANDY LOEHR)
Youths involved in a new program when the 2016-17 school year begins later this month already have made a difference in their community this week through an initiative to transform the courtyard area at Bellefontaine High School.
The space had been neglected in recent years and towering weeds had taken over, so pupils in Bellefontaine City School’s IMPACT Program spent a number of hours in the hot August weather to pull the weeds and powerwash the courtyard’s paved sections. Then they installed mulch and spruced up the area with a total of 134 new plants, from hostas to daylilies, daises, grasses and hydrangeas.
While putting some of the finishing touches on the courtyard Thursday, IMPACT coordinator Shannon Maier said this effort is just one example of the types of projects she wants to undertake with participants in the upcoming year.
The program, which stands for Imagine Making Accountable Changes Together, identifies children in elementary, middle and high school who are experiencing barriers to academic, social and community success, and those who also might be on the path toward juvenile court involvement. It is made possible through a two-year $250,000 grant received by the school district through the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Exceptional Children, as previously reported in the Examiner.
The goal is to produce a strong support system around the students and their families to prevent problems from increasing and to create long-lasting changes and new experiences in their lives.
“With this program, we want to be proactive instead of reactive,” said Mrs. Maier, who also serves as a truancy officer for Bellefontaine City Schools and Riverside Local Schools.
“We want to offer positive projects like this to teach the kids new life skills and gain confidence to help turn them away from behaviors that will land them in juvenile court. Some of these students just need a good outlet and something to take pride in.
“It’s so neat to see them learning new things, like working outside on this landscaping, and be able to see a project through to completion.”
Read complete story in Friday’s Examiner.
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