MINNEAPOLIS - A school library in northeast Minneapolis just got a $200,000 facelift and it was more than cosmetic. The Pillsbury Elementary School on Garfield is part of Target's years-long program to boost reading in the early school years by major makeovers of school media centers.
Pillsbury school is home to more than 650 students, pre-K to 5th grade. Principal Laura Cavender applied for the makeover, then held her breath.
"The Library was in its original state from 1991, when the building was built. It had wallpaper from the early 90's and not very colorful, greys and light blue. The carpet on the floor, a dark grey. The books in the library, many of them have been here for those 20 years and so, it was not a very inviting place for children," said Cavender.
The major problem was the material in the media center. There was a lot of it, but it was very outdated and not truly appropriate for the youngsters in the school.
"We have a very diverse population of students. We have students from all over the world. It is the most global community that I have seen and it is a beautiful community to see," commented Cavender.
Of the 650+ students at Pillsbury, more than 400 of them speak a non-english language at home. In fact, Cavender estimates that her students speak more than a dozen different languages.
Cavender wanted the media center to the "hub" of the school, a place that would attract students every day. That is precisely what Target, in partnership with the non-profit Heart of America group, wanted as well. Thus, at the end of August, the transformation began.
Target Director of Community Relations Education Initiatives Reba Dominski surveyed the changes about to happen. "We will bring in 2,000 new books that are age and culturally appropriate for the students at this school. We will bring in 'Smart Boards'. We will bring in I-Pads. We will bring in new computers to really meet the modern day needs of the students."
"Since 2007, when the program began, we have done 76 library makeovers reaching approximately 1.6 million children. This year, we will complete 42 more, reaching thousands more kids," said Dominski.
The Media Center at Pillsbury School is actually two rooms, a large reading room and a smaller computer room. The grey wallpaper in the latter space is gone and replaced with brighter blue paint.
All of the walls in the reading room have been repainted with the brighter blue paint. The upper walls are now papered with good thoughts from old and new philosophers. The old dull carpeting has been replaced with multi-colored patterns, indicating separate reading and working areas. There are three distinct reading areas, set up for conversation and group work.
Sixteen new I-Pad2s make group work easier. Cavender had wanted a space where children could gather in small groups. She equated it with spaces in coffee shops for adults to chat and share ideas. The project includes a number of I-Pad2s and smaller chairs to make that concept possible.
The remodeling included the entire third grade at the school. They worked with Minneapolis collage artist Josie Lewis to create a unique mural for a wall near the library entrance.
"I work with magazines and this material called resin. I build multiple layers of the (clear) resin and then collage elements inside it, so it ends up having a depth to it. I built it up with the composition of a big circle and the third graders are helping me by putting their photographs inside the mural," explained Lewis.
Lewis took photos of all approximately 100 third graders, then printed the tiny facial images in the same tints as the rainbow colors of her collage and resin circle. After the students glued their own faces onto a layer of the resin, she covered them over with more clear layers. The idea is to allow the young visitors to touch the surface of the three-foot diameter mural without damaging it.
Lewis said she enjoyed working with the youngsters. "The kids are just a hoot and they are so enthusiastic. They love seeing a new process and they are just so excited about color and shape. My favorite thing is whenever I ask kids what their favorite color is. They say Pink! Blue! Yellow! Orange! All the colors! They are really great. That is me, too. I like all the colors and I use all the colors."
In the last week of September, red-shirted Target volunteers began flooding into the remodeled Media Center. The repositioned bookcases began welcoming the old books that were still appropriate. The Josie Lewis/third grade mural was mounted in its place of honor near the Library door.
Finally, on September 28th, 175 Target volunteers from several stores flooded across a red carpet into the school. They placed the new books into shelves and set up the new group work areas. the paper that had covered the windows separating the Media Center from the schools' central corridor was taken down. For the first time in weeks, the Pillsbury kids got a look at their new library.
Dignitaries who helped cut the ribbon included Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Schools Superintendent Dr. Bernadeia Johnson, and Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Rybak told the students "Someday we will come back and you will be writing the books."
Klobuchar amused the students with stories of teaching reading to her now teenaged daughter. Klobuchar said she was reading the Harry Potter books to her daughter, when the Senator kept falling asleep. In frustration, she explained, her daughter picked up the book and taught herself how to read.
The new computer lab area includes two "smart boards" so that students working on the computers can see what an instructor is doing in front of them. Also, the "smart Boards" have new "touch" technology that allows movement of the material on the smart board by small hands.
The entire Target/Heart of America Foundation Initiative is aimed at boosting reading ability for children as they begin their formal educations.
Since reading does not stop at the library door, each of Pillsbury's students and their siblings received 7 books to begin their own library at home. The books were pre-selected to be age appropriate for each child.
Teachers know that reading and learning is hard when a youngster is hungry. Cavander said 83% of her students live in poverty. To combat that, Target instituted the "Meals for Minds" program.
Each student's family receives 25 pounds of food, including fresh produce, from Second Harvest Heartland during the school year. The first delivery was Wednesday.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)