Friendship Garden

We’d like to update the school community on the progress we’ve made in implementing the Friendship Garden adjacent to the main entry doors of John Hay. You can view the plan by clicking the image below.

Background

As you may know, the impetus for this project came from the family of Siri Mayo, a John Hay student who died of cancer in April 2005. The Mayo family wanted to give something back to the school to both honor their daughter’s spirit and the school and community support they received during her illness. While she was sick, Siri created a sculpture of the Chinese character meaning “friendship”. This character will be featured in a bronze sculpture that will be the focal point of the new garden. The intent of the project is not to dwell on the loss but to bring the community together again to create a beautiful place for reflection on the power of friendship. The plan includes new landscaping and lighting, two stone benches, a memorial sculpture, an embellished concrete walkway and a reader board to announce events to the community at large. Plans are posted on the bulletin board in the main hall of the school, and hopefully will soon be on the school website.

Project Organization & Funding

In the spring of 2006, the Mayo family approached the school, friends, local artists and local businesses and formed a Steering Committee to develop and manage the project. This committee includes Siri’s parents, Marc Mayo and Fran Kremen, John Hay parents Amy Barnett and Arthur Furukawa (architects), Bill Noland (landscape designer), Sharon Maifeld, Mimi Gan and Everett Billingslea, as well as local artist Judy Kaplan. Stuart Kendall (Catherine’s husband) has also been working to advise the group and has offered to donate the stonework and installation. In July 2006 the Committee applied for a Neighborhood Matching Grant through the Department of Neighborhoods, and the full amount of the grant was awarded in September. Matching funds have been raised and additional fundraising will occur as needed. Queen Anne families, individuals and businesses are donating volunteer hours and funds.

School Involvement

Sara Mirabueno agreed to serve on the Steering Committee as a teacher liaison. We have been talking with Sara, and other teachers, about incorporating the themes of friendship and community into various projects throughout the school year, and are hoping to create a literary journal with writing by students, with a selection of the student’s words engraved in the garden’s stone benches. The project’s themes will also tie in nicely with the anti-bullying program being implemented this year. Our art teachers are planning lessons based on this theme, and have also volunteered to help the students create mosaics which will be a part of the permanent installation. Each class will produce (with volunteer help) a mosaic concrete paver featuring a star motif, and these pavers will be inlaid in the front walkway to the school.

Schedule

The first part of the project to go in will be a reader board sign in front of the school. The sign is funded in part by last year’s 5th grade class as their gift to the school. The concrete foundation for the sign was installed by parent volunteers Craig Kolbitz, Daniel Johnson and Randy Nicholson. THANK YOU!!! The next step will be installing a brick base for the sign. Thanks to Eric Jones, the bricks have been delivered, and the bricklayers are scheduled to come this week. The sign will be installed after the holiday break.
In January, we hope to have the children start on both the writing and art projects, and we will be looking for parent volunteers to help with this process. The paving and lighting will be installed in early spring, and the plantings, benches and sculpture be installed in April or May. The garden will be dedicated in June, 2007 when Siri’s classmates will be graduating from John Hay.

Our hope is that the realization of the project will build community as well as celebrating it. We will have garden work parties, mosaic-making parties, paver installation parties and will let you know what’s happening through periodic project updates on ParentOrganizer and the Queen Anne/Magnolia News. We’ll also document project milestones, and encourage neighbors and community members to participate. If you would like more information or would like to volunteer, please contact Amy Barnett, project manager at 217-9472 or amy_barnett100@msn.com.

Update - April 2007 - Gardens that are tended, grow

Thanks to so many wonderful students, teachers and friends, the Friendship Garden is becoming a reality. It’s fitting that the Friendship Garden is coming together because of everyone’s willingness to work cooperatively and a testament to the true spirit of friendship.

The reader board sign, which was funded in part by a gift from the class of 2006, was finally installed in February. The sign announces school events to John Hay families and also helps us reach out to the neighboring community.

As many of you know the heart and soul of the garden is a sculpture of the Chinese character for friendship. In January, a full-size model of the sculpture was carefully transported to the foundry for casting. No small feat. The foundry is in Tacoma. In February, John Hay’s very own art teachers Carolyn Grane and Pam Gray worked with students in each classroom to create star designs. A committee had the difficult job of selecting one star from each classroom to be produced as a mosaic for the Garden. Again, no small task. After endless deliberations, the committee, through a blind selection process, picked a representative star for each classroom. All of the stars are so beautiful that they will be incorporated into a display at the school.

With the selections made, classes are now working together on their classroom designs. Led by a core of dedicated parents and volunteers, students in each classroom are working together to bring their class star to life. They are learning mosaic techniques, working with colored stones and in the process are having lots and lots of fun.

Our wonderful John Hay faculty is also using the theme of friendship and community in writing assignments with amazing results. Student essays, stories and poems will also be included in displays around the school.

The care that has been shown for this project is overwhelming and the Garden is growing beyond its physical borders. The sense of friendship and community is everywhere. We hope you’ll join us as we continue to work on this important project. Volunteers are needed to help prepare the site for paving and new plantings. A work party will be scheduled for May 5 or 6. We are also looking for someone with a pickup truck to help deliver pavers to the school in mid May. And mark your calendar now for the Garden Dedication on June 12th. Any questions please contact Amy Barnett, 217-9472 or amy_barnett100[at]msn.com.

Update - February 6, 2007

The Seeds for the Garden Project Are Firmly Planted

The snow is gone, spring is in the air and things are fully underway with the John Hay Friendship Garden. Pieces for the Garden are being worked on all over the school ­ literally and figuratively. Children in all grades
are beginning to design mosaic tiles that will be inlaid into the sidewalk leading to the front doors of the school. Once the designs are completed, parent volunteers will be needed to help the children turn one design from each class into a finished mosaic. The art teachers are working with students on projects focused on friendship and community. At a recent assembly, kids were inspired by examples of mosaic tiles and by the garden plans. A bronze sculpture of the Chinese character for friendship will be the focal point of the garden. Pictures of a model of the sculpture were shown to the kids so they could see it before it goes to the foundry for casting. The children loved the colors of the tiles and the design of the sculpture and their enthusiastic response thrilled teachers, parents, the artist and the Friendship Garden Committee.

Also sprouting up will be poetry written by students. Teachers in each class will be working with their students to create poetry and artwork based on the themes of friendship and community, and this work will be featured in posters displayed around the community or in a school-wide display this spring. The upcoming school auction, "Friendships in Bloom: A Springtime Garden Party",shares the theme of friendship as well. You may have noticed a little groundwork has already been laid -- Thanks to Randy Johnson and the apprentices from the Masonry Trades Association, the brick base for our new readerboard sign in front of the school has been built. The sign, which will announce upcoming school events to the community, is being fabricated and will be installed sometime soon. Watch as things continue to bloom! If you are able to help with mosaics, posters or gardening, or would like to find out more about the Friendship Garden, please contact Amy Barnett at amy_barnett100@msn.com.

Photos

Some of the paver stone mosaics:

The sculpture: