Sprucing up St. Marks: Oakland Center kids lend a hand
Published 8:58 am Saturday, May 5, 2018
- Students from the Oakland Education Center donned gardening gloves and picked up their rakes to help do a spring cleaning of the courtyard at St. Marks Living. Deb Nicklay/deb.nicklay@austindailyherald.com
Mikayla Pierce, who was picking up debris, said she was more than happy to help clean up the courtyard at St. Marks Living on Friday.
“I like to help garden and getting this up to date,” the 16-year-old said. “And being outside is good, too.”
Pierce and fellow students and staff from the Oakland Education Center raked, re-mulched, weeded and generally cleaned the courtyard at whose center is a favorite swing. They also took time to take down Christmas lights that were wound through the trees and shrubs, and fill the bird feeders that were stationed out of many of the resident rooms. It wasn’t long before the sunny day shone on a spruced-up space.
Mikayla Pierce, 16, picks up twigs and branches from the landscaping at a courtyard at St. Marks Living. She and fellow students worked for about an hour and a half cleaning the space. Deb Nicklay/deb.nicklay@austindailyherald.com
“We’ve heard from the residents how much they enjoy spending time in this area,” said Becky Gerdes, a teacher at the center. “They really look forward to coming out here.”
Thanks to the middle school and high school-aged kids, residents will be able to do that in short order.
Actually, the OEC kids and St. Marks already has established a mutual admiration society of sorts. The kids in February came to present flowers to residents around Valentine’s Day. Since then, they have been helping call numbers for the residents’ bingo games.
So, when it was suggested they help with the spring cleaning of the courtyard, there were plenty of takers, Gerdes said.
“We believe in giving back to the community; we love participating and making it a better place,” said another teacher, Jamie Swanke. A student she was partnering with in the clean up, Ethan Ohm, 18, nodded his approval with a big smile.
Gerdes said there was even more at play: hands-on learning, she said, builds skills valuable to the students, from problem-solving and working as a team, to developing leadership skills and understanding community service.
“It helps them understand that we are all part of the community — and that this community is their community,” Gerdes said. “When we have projects like this, when we come to St. Marks, the kids always make sure they are in school. They love coming here.”
The Oakland Education Center serves students with high-level programming needs. The school, a partnership between the Austin and Albert Lea school districts, began serving students in 2017.
