"The Tetra is up and they love it," says Libby Case, class 4/5 teacher. This new middle school play structure was a gift to the school in honor of Libby from her 2018 graduating class. The structure was designed by Yestermorrow Design/Build instructor Giocondo Susini; the 10 students in Gio's two-week class then worked with his plans to build it. (Yestermorrow is a Design/Build school in Waitsfield, VT.) Then a team of OVWS parents (Debbie Goodwin, Erica Zimmerman, Casey Gullage, Shaun Stephens, and Madelief Becherer), along with Libby and Gio, spent hours preparing the site and erecting the structure.
The idea for the structure "came out of the need for middle school students to have their own space," Libby says, and "it worked!"
Parents from Libby's graduating class approached the faculty to define a need they could support with a class giving effort. The parents raised about $4,500 for the project with 100% class participation, along with parents from Libby's long-ago kindergarten classes! While a sizable figure, it was not enough to fund a structure without the partnership with Yestermorrow, said Erica Zimmerman. "This project set an example of what graduating classes can do," Erica said. "Giving in celebration of your class's graduation is a great way to support the future of the school."
The structure includes a climbing wall, chin-up bar, and several small decks. It was designed to make it easy to add other elements onto it. Thank you to all!
