Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270059
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TRACY GALLIMORE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PRICES FORK LENGTH: Medium
- Thomas Fuller
The green fields turn to bare swatches of red clay closer to the edge of Prices Fork Road. Mounds of dirt and concrete barriers speak of progress. Nearby, big yellow machines trundle back and forth.
Down the road a ways, at Prices Fork Elementary School, the imprint of progress is just as dramatic. Bright autumn leaves that usually grace the school yard are missing, along with large trees workers have removed to reshape and widen the busy road.
Beth MacDonald's and Randall Ward's third-grade classes were saddened when they saw the trees fall during the first few weeks of school. MacDonald's classroom window faces the school lawn, so students noticed immediately as the trees were destroyed just yards away.
The classes came together to find a way to preserve the environment and remember the stand of oaks that was a community landmark. MacDonald's third-graders decided to plant a young oak sapling. Ward's class chose to bury a time capsule as a reminder of early autumn days in third grade.
On Thursday, during a dedication ceremony, the new oak tree was planted on the school lawn. The sapling was donated by Willow Springs Tree Farm.
Grant Sims, Kevin Price and Shannon Lamm, MacDonald's students, read the dedication speech for the tree-planting ceremony. Amanda Matusevich and Mikki Dailey, Ward's students, gave the dedication speech for the time capsule.
MacDonald and Ward plan to collect acorns from the fallen trees for their students as keepsakes. The third-\ graders carved their initials and pressed a single acorn from one of the old trees into a big square of soft cement. The marker will be placed next to the new tree and time capsule on the lawn.
Ward's students filled the capsule with third-graders' treasures: seashells from summer vacation, smooth stones, poems, drawings, newspaper clippings about favorite athletes, and even this year's math and spelling assignments. Students also included a tape containing a message recorded by each of them. The time capsule will be opened in 50 years by future Prices Fork Elementary School students.
The children plan to revisit the time capsule project in five years, when they leave middle school. They may open it to see how they have changed and perhaps add new artifacts. Like the sapling tree MacDonald's class planted, they will have grown much taller by then.
Virginia Tech sophomores Shannon Roop and Kristi Sabina assisted the Prices Fork students with their effort. They participate in Tech's Appalachian Studies program, which co-sponsors projects that involve students with the community.
"The children were very excited today about planting the tree. They worked very hard toward their goal, and were glad to be able to preserve the community in some way," said Sabina. "It's nice to know that this project has helped students learn that they can make a difference.
by CNB