Help "Pretty Up" Shadow Mountain Public High

tl;dr/In short… Help Shadow Mountain High School "pretty up" with planters, flowers, a Free Little Library and a bench.

My daughter is an old woman.  I’m thinking somewhere between the ages of 65-80.  Sure, she’s a junior in high school and sporting a 16 year old chassis.  Sure, she’s super cute and totally rocks a bikini. But don’t, for one second, let the long blond hair and perkiness fool you.  She’s absolutely ancient. She thinks Snapchat is annoying and that Instagram is a time suck. She believes the most interesting person she’s ever met is her soon to retire, grandfatherly English teacher.  And she has a pen pal. Did you hear me? PEN. PAL. As in she writes on PAPER with a PEN and MAILS the letter with PRINTED photos to the person. This is only made weirder by the fact that the pal is her 70 something, retired, online chemistry tutor.  Feelin’ my teens character now? No you aren’t. Not yet. You need to hear that when my sixteen year old is stressed over school, she doesn’t stick her face in her phone... she whips out Cook’s Illustrated, bakes a coffee cake, then watches Call the Midwife.  Really. True dat. (And she would never say “true dat”, btw). Now are you feelin’ her vibe? I haven’t even told you yet that she wears ear plugs in movie theaters and hates, HATES California because “the whole state smells gross, like pot”. We took her to an outdoor concert there and she suggested that, “Your parenting skills are questionable, exposing me to all this loud music, greasy and ridiculously overpriced food, and pot smoke.  At least there are seats and we don’t have to stand up while they sing.” Maybe gauging her around 65-80 is shooting too low. My 90 year old grandmother would have complained less about the heat and would definitely not have mopped up the puddled grease on her $10 pizza slice.  

People have always told me that my daughter is an “old soul.”  They meant that she is “wise beyond her years,” right? That’s what I thought too!  But when she whoops and yells in excitement because the third season of The Durell’s on Corfu is now available on Amazon Prime, I think they meant she’s a weirdo.  So now that the foundation of my high schooler has been laid, you might better understand this dream of hers. She is championing... a Free Little Library for her teachers.  My thoughtful, but odd teen thinks the teachers and administration of her high school would benefit from a community book exchange program.  Yup. And she doesn’t stop there. She wants to bring some nature to the place in the form of planters, like 12 of them flanking entrances with flowers too… and a bench, “because the teachers spend a lot of time on campus and it should be a beautiful and welcoming space.”  What can I possibly say to her request? I tried, “No, I want to watch TV and eat beef jerky.” About the only thing normal about my daughter is her teen eye roll (#donotthroatpunchkids). Fine. I’ll help you get books, flowers, and a bench for your high school, you weirdo.  

I have two teens at Shadow Mountain High School and I love, LOVE our experiences with both the administration and the teaching staff, but the campus could definitely use some warming touches here and there and, well… EVERYWHERE.  

And did you know that 34% of their teen population is in the “Free or Reduced Lunch Program”?  I know, right?! That’s way higher than I would’ve thought too. Nutso scary stat. She also suggested that it would be nice for the kids who come early for breakfast to arrive at a more welcoming, less institutional environment.  I can’t argue with that. So, yeah… I will help pretty it up. Here is my attempt at photoshop to show the first stage of the plan. The photos look crude and amateurish, but rest assured I spent hours upon hours to make it look this good.  It turns out that Photoshop is STUPIDLY IMPOSSIBLE to navigate. Seriously, I’ve never felt so inept in my life. But, c’est la vie and ta-da...My before and after renditions of the Free Little Library, Planters, and Bench Project for Shadow Mountain High School.  Please help with funding if you can. Absolutely ANY amount would be greatly appreciated, as it all adds up!  :-)

Here is where the bucket money will go...

Free Little Library
Concrete bench
12 planters (with plantings) for building entrances