Former Student Fulfills Teacher’s Wish for

Outdoor Classroom

By Anne Ruisi

Homewood Middle School enrichment teacher

Erin Meacham remembers her former student, Garner Johnson, talking about how he wanted to be an Eagle Scout.

Johnson, now a 16-yearold sophomore at Homewood High School, is close to attaining the highest rank in Scouting. To do so, he built tables and a bench for an outdoor classroom for Meacham, who had been her sixth grade teacher, and her colleagues at the middle school.

Meacham said she received an email from Johnson in December pitching the idea.

“It was really sweet,” she said. “I was so surprised.”

A candidate for Eagle Scout must complete an Eagle Scout Service Project to demonstrate leadership while performing a service for the benefit of their community, according to the Eagle Scout Service Project How-To Manual. When it came time to choose a public service project, Johnson said his first thought was to do something for his former teacher.

“She is one of my favorite teachers. I asked her if she needed anything for me to do at school,” and they settled on two picnic tables and a bench for an outdoor classroom, Johnson said.

When the weather is good, Meacham likes her students to enjoy the outdoors while they work on independent research projects. Called “passion projects,” these assignments are based on each student’s interests and strengths, the teacher said.

The only drawback was there was nowhere to sit, so students would sit on the ground. Meacham said that when Johnson asked her about doing a project related to her classroom, she suggested outdoor seating to create an outdoor classroom.

Two 6-foot-long picnic tables and a bench were proposed, and after meetings with school officials, the project was approved.

Requirements for the public service project call for the scout to raise the money needed to fund the project and to build it. Johnson raised $800 in donations, of which $600 was needed to buy lumber and other materials to build the tables and bench. The remaining $200 was donated to Meacham for classroom supplies.

Johnson has done woodworking projects before, such as on a side deck for trash cans at his father’s house, so he felt comfortable building the tables and bench. He enlisted fellow Scouts to assist with construction – they received service hours toward their own journey up the ranks for helping out – and got the work done in one day.

Johnson and some of his fellow scouts who helped with construction installed the tables and bench over Christmas break.

“When they delivered it, the other scouts who came had been my students” Meacham said. “I had a tearyeyed teacher moment.”

Scouting has been an important part of Johnson’s life since he was in first grade, when he joined the Cub Scouts. In sixth grade he became a Boy Scout and now is a member of Troop 97 out of Trinity United Methodist Church. He hopes to complete the requirements for Eagle Scout by this summer.

“I still have one merit badge to finish,” Johnson said.

Altamont School student Alexander Skowronski has been keeping a spotlight not just on the war in Ukraine but on the young Ukrainian refugees it has created.

At the beginning of the war, Skowronski organized virtual meetings between his Altamont peers and the displaced students, according to a statement from the school. When Ukrainian physician Katia Zaharodnia proposed an idea to help Ukrainian children at Christmas, Skowronski and fellow student Akshay Gaddamanugu accepted the challenge.

Gaddamanugu observed in the statement that, although “you can just send gifts to a war zone and call it a day,” he and Skowronski wanted to make a more significant commitment by addressing the specific Christmas wishes of individual children.

As part of an ongoing project with the school’s C. Kyser Miree Ethical Leadership Center, the pair solicited refugee children’s letters to Saint Nicholas, found translators, worked with Altamont Director of Advancement Stephanie Brooks to raise more than $4,000, bought the items the children requested, organized wrapping events, and ensured that the gifts were delivered on time to refugee centers at Yazlovets and Tlumach.

Knowing that a letter from Saint Nicholas is a beloved tradition, Skowronski and Gaddamanugu even worked with calligrapher Ira Mokrytska to create personalized notes for the children.

The project reached 70 children who have been enduring the horrors of war.

“You brought our children not only the presents, but also you brought back their hope and childhood,” Ukrainian volunteer Daryna Viktorova wrote to Skowronski.

Crash Course

Skowronski’s parents, Bozena and Jan, have been with their son at every step of what he described as a “crash course” in leadership.

The whole family shared in a certificate of appreciation and medal recently presented to them by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Kharkiv

Simmons Choir Snags 1st in Division Competition

The Synergy Show Choir from Simmons Middle School returned from Montgomery after the Jan. 27 Capital City Classic with a first place win in their division. Seventh grader Parker Jones also was one of four finalists in the solo competition.

Synergy is an auditioned group of seventh and eighth grade students from Simmons. Its members compete against choirs from elsewhere in Alabama and in Georgia.

Their show this year is “The Magic School Bus.” Each song portrays a different episode of the television series from the 1990s. Synergy is under the direction of Dan Cater, with show design by Dan Cater and Delle Kincaid. Choreography is created by Delle Kincaid, Farlanda Buchannon and Katie House.