Schools & Education

Painting rocks at Calaveras Elementary

Parents and students spend Saturday revitalizing campus garden.
Families arrive to pick their rock, paint it and share in revitalizing the Calaveras and AAA garden.
Families arrive to pick their rock, paint it and share in revitalizing the Calaveras and AAA garden.
Councilman Rolan Resendiz attended the community-building event.
Councilman Rolan Resendiz attended the community-building event.

Students and their families gathered on the front lawn of Calaveras Elementary School on Sept. 28 in an effort to revitalize the community garden on campus. The project began after the inaugural Saturday Scholar class.

The Calaveras Parent-Teacher Organization Collective hosted a rock painting session with artist Joel Esqueda from Hollister Art Collab. They had envisioned students leaving their mark on the garden by painting rocks that would form a footpath in the garden. San Benito Rockery donated three yards of smooth river rock for the effort.

“I’m excited to see how parents are invested in the community and getting involved,” said Hollister Councilman Rolan Resendiz, who represents District 2 where Calaveras is located.

The project to improve the garden is in its beginning stages. It was overgrown with weeds as tall as some fourth-graders as recently as August.

Through community donations and partnerships with the Accelerated Achievement Academy (which shares the building with Calaveras), the garden has since been cleared and tilled in preparation for the coming school year. With the vision of having an outdoor classroom, AAA students have their hands in the dirt, working in designated planter boxes. Painting river rocks is the first involvement of Calaveras students.

Susana Valle was picking up her son, third-grader Gael, from the Saturday Scholar program when they decided to join the fun. A longtime Hollister local, Valle has seen the community garden in various phases.

“When my [older] son was in kindergarten here, he graduated high school in 2011, so you may note that was a while ago,” Valle said. “The kids were able to pick pumpkins that were grown here in the garden.” 

Asked what she thought about being a part of bringing the garden back, Valle said, “It’s a good learning experience for the kids. When they work in the garden they are able to plant seeds, water them and watch how they grow.”

 

Patty Lopez Day is vice president of the Calaveras PTO Collective.

 

Patty Lopez Day

Patty Lopez Day,  has been a reporter for Benitolink since August of 2019.  A journalist and writer by trade she's had work published in print and online media throughout the Bay Area most notably La Oferta, the longest running Bi-lingual, Latino owned media outlet based in San Jose California where she started her journalism career after graduating from UC Santa Barbara with degrees in English and [email protected] studies in 2005.   Lopez Day covers Education, and Local News for Benitolink and remains open to new story ideas, sources and tips on any subject matter of interest to the community at large.