INDIAN RIVER COUNTY- Whole Child Indian River recently celebrated the completion of a seven-month project to transform a courtyard at Highlands Elementary School into a beautiful space. Members of the community joined Whole Child staff and volunteers, and the Beautiful Spaces sponsors and partners in a ceremony to dedicate the freshly landscaped courtyard and Whole Child mural to the students and faculty of Highlands.
The Beautiful Spaces campaign is part of Highlands’ vision to create a safe environment where all students engage in their own self efficacy so that they learn the lifelong skills needed to be successful emotionally, socially, and academically.
“Research shows that changing children’s physical environment can change the way they feel about that space. It impacts their moods, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors,” said Highlands Principal Diane Fannin. “By creating beautiful spaces throughout our campus, we are cultivating an atmosphere of safety. Only when children feel safe in their surroundings can they focus on learning.”
What started as a project to transform a space, became an opportunity to engage the greater community.
“As we began to plan the Beautiful Spaces project, we recognized that we needed help in order to make it happen. We needed funding, expertise, and the talents of various agencies, businesses and individuals throughout our community,” said Whole Child Executive Director Kelley Williams.
Whole Child and Highlands extend tremendous thanks to each of the Beautiful Spaces sponsors and partners: Garden Club of Indian River County, McDonald Builders, Sara Bumgarner, Sartain & Associates, and Sergio Ramirez Painting.
“Beautiful Spaces demonstrated the Whole Child philosophy in action. Regardless of our profession, skills, interests, or affiliation, we all have a role to play in contributing to the safety and well-being of our community’s children. No single person or entity can do it alone,” said Williams.
Whole Child seeks to build a community where everyone works together to make sure children thrive. The Beautiful Spaces project showed that children themselves are an important part of that community. “One of the most special aspects of the project is that some of our students contributed to the transformation of the space by adding hand print flowers to the mural,” said Highlands art teacher Bridget Lyons. “It was so rewarding to see their enthusiasm and pride in making their school beautiful.”
The Beautiful Spaces project is just one component of the partnership between Whole Child and Highlands Elementary School, which began last fall at the beginning of the school year. In addition to creating rewarding experiences for students, Whole Child seeks to provide support to teachers and faculty, and help families identify and connect to resources that meet their needs.
Thanks to the support of Quail Valley Charities, Whole Child established the first-ever Connection Corner in the Family Resource Room of Highlands’ media center. Parents are welcome to visit the Connection Corner and complete a profile during school hours. Whole Child’s website, www.wholechidlirc.org, is also accessible 24/7 through any home or public computer or smartphone.
“Whether families are looking for emergency services, doctors, after-school programs, or other services, they can find it all in one place: Whole Child’s website,” said Williams.
Whole Child Indian River is an initiative of the Junior League of Indian River and is proud to have the support of the Children’s Services Advisory Committee, Quail Valley Charities and Publix Super Markets Charities.
For more information about Whole Child, contact Kelley at kwilliams@wholechildirc.org.