Students in the Guadalupe Union School District saw a lot of positive changes when they returned to school Monday, Aug. 17.
Mary Buren Elementary School got a spruced-up athletic field for physical education activities and other events. The field facelift was made possible through a donation of time and materials from business partners Tommy Minetti and Paul Silviera and their staff.
Upgraded furniture and learning materials will make school a little more exciting too. The school district received a $100,000 donation from The Ellen DeGeneres Show through Target, as well as, other Central Coast Foundations. With those funds, the district added books to the school’s library, purchased Google Chromebooks, and updated furniture and educational necessities.
Guadalupe School District Superintendent Ed Cora said that the library and learning center upgrades aren’t fully complete and won’t be for a couple more months, but students and staff who saw them on the first day of school were impressed. “The staff loves it, and some of the classes that saw it for the first time today think it’s really cool, and I said, ‘wait until it’s finished,’” he said.
Cora said the school is planning to hold a grand opening for the library, and he hopes that DeGeneres will attend.
A combination of other funds has allowed for upgrades at McKenzie Junior High School as well, where students will get access to a new media center in December. Construction is set to begin after the approval of architectural plans.
Those students will learn about more than just technology this year, however, they will also learn healthy eating habits by growing their own food in the school’s first multipurpose garden. The garden will feature six 4-by-10-foot raised planters and a 15-by-20-foot bed of plants.
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2015.