The dilapidated condition of Roxhill Elementary got an extreme makeover by the employees of T-Mobile on July 26. They created a nicely outfitted After School area in the school. Community meetings in the past have highlighted the poor condition of some parts of the school.
The sad condition of Roxhill Elementary School got an impressive facelift on July 26 as 300 Seattle and Bellevue based T-Mobile employees brought their best makeover efforts to the school. The effort, part of a national community outreach program called "Huddle Up" had volunteers painting, planting and beautifying the school concentrating on creating a T-Mobile After School space.
That space is now a customized afterschool area stocked with furniture, school supplies, books and games.
The workers painted murals, constructed shelving and cubby storage spaces, and created outdoor games and playground graphics.
The T-Mobile Huddle Up is aimed at connecting kids, primarily from single-parent families in high-need, urban communities, to positive people, places and programs.
Now in its seventh year, T-Mobile Huddle Up has transformed more than 68 afterschool programs nationwide, and is taking on 10 more “extreme makeovers” in 2012.
The action started at 9:00 a.m with a 30 minute opening program and Rep. Eric Pettigrew from the 37th Legislative District who said, "Your work here today will have a major impact and actually change lives."
The company presented a commemorative plaque to Carmela Dellino, Principal (just appointed as Exec. Director of schools for the West Seattle Region) and also gave the school a check for $4000.
Previous community meetings have highlighted the deteriorating nature of the school with peeling paint, damaged walls and exteriors, with many pointing out the infamous "cheese grater", a ramp to Portable 20 where many children have fallen and been injured. That particular issue was not addressed in the makeover but the volume of work done was remarkable by any standard. Volunteers painted entire portable school buildings, re-made the squareball courts into colorful boxes, created large wall murals in the covered play area of the school, painted symbols outside classrooms, scraped and repainted landings for portables, planted numerous plants, including adding to the school garden, and more.
Roxhill Elementary is located at 9430 30th Avenue SW Seattle.
