‘A wonderful journey between 2 schools’

Two benches — one 7 feet and one 8 feet long — sit in the courtyard outside Cory Gilbreth’s fifth-grade classroom at Hanson Elementary School. They are the result of what Hanson Principal Chris Gunnett calls “a wonderful journey between two schools.”

Before he introduced three Hanson students at a recent meeting of Ramona Unified trustees, Gunnett said that the new state standards present opportunities to put ideas or problems to work in “real-world experiences.”

“This year our fifth-grade class had a problem,” he said. “They needed a place to sit and read.”

Discussions of how to solve the problem led to an idea. Once they had the idea, they had to “find resources, collaborate and then get together with others on how they’re going to make that dream be realized,” said Gunnett.

With Home Depot Carmel Mountain providing all of the supplies and Montecito High School construction students working with and teaching them, the fifth-graders finished what they named their “Reading Bench Project.”

Fifth-grader Sophia Brindley admitted that, while she was excited about the project, she also was nervous, because she had never “built anything so large and important.”

“I was even more nervous when I saw the Montecito high schoolers — the age and height difference,” she said. “But as soon as we started working, my nervousness disappeared.”

Classmate Thomas Leech agreed.

“We learned how to work together as a team, no matter our age difference,” he said.

Among other things, the older students showed the fifth-graders how to use a screw gun, a square and a hot pen and how to sand and stain.

Fifth-grader Charles Hall said he particularly enjoyed learning to stain the benches, so students are “able to sit on it and not have splinters.”

The learning wasn’t all one-sided. Describing himself as a fast-paced person, construction student Mike Henderson said he learned to slow down, get more involved and talk more.

“It helped me out a lot,” he said.

Construction student Cesar Mercado agreed.

“It was a great experience working with the kids, because we got to teach them something that we learned,” he said, thanking Gunnett and Gilbreth for the opportunity.

Directing his comments to the elementary students, Montecito High construction teacher Nick Jordan said he enjoyed working with them and appreciated their attitude and work ethic.

“Keep that up growing up,” he said. “You’re going to need that. Everywhere you go you’re going to need that.”

In addition to making the two benches, the Hanson students built planter boxes on the high school campus, Montecito Principal Dave Lohman said.

“We look forward to that collaboration in the future,” he said.

The presentation to the school board ended with a slide show featuring photographs taken by fifth-graders on the project’s Historian Team.

“Reading Bench Project: An idea is born — 48 students, two schools, one dream realized,” the slide show began.