Miller-Driscoll Elementary School students are experiencing the renovation of their school building from the inside out—construction is going on while they continue to attend school there. Now they will have the opportunity to really be a part of the renovation by leaving a lasting mark on the actual new structure itself.
Yesterday, Wednesday, March 9, the students signed their names and stamped a painted handprint on steel beams that will be used in the renovation as part of the new construction area. Each class came outside—in perfectly glorious weather—where teachers and staff helped students place their handprint with paint-covered hands and markers.
Using red and blue paint, the school’s colors, each child was walked through an efficient operation. They were helped by parent volunteers, teachers and paraprofessionals to first sign their names with markers, then apply paint to their hands, then stamp their handprints next to their names, and finally to wash and dry their hands. Watching the children’s joyful fun with the experience, it was clear they certainly enjoyed the project.
Miller-Driscoll administrators and teachers have made a concerted effort to involve the students in the renovation process, from giving each child a hard hat just like the construction workers, to meeting the renovation project’s site manager, and even having him interviewed by the students who are part of the MD-TV initiative.
Events like yesterday’s hand-stamping help give the children, especially Wilton’s youngest, some ownership and emotional control over a transitional experience like construction. Plus, says school counselor Elena White, it helps the children bond to each other and to the school itself.
“It makes them feel a part of the building process, it makes them feel connected. It also brings the whole community together, and be united,” she says. “They’re part of the building. It lets them feel a part of the building project.”
GOOD Morning Wilton was “on hand” to capture the fun of the project in pictures. Take a look though our gallery of images.
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