The gym floors from the former Princess Anne Middle School (PAMS) are getting a new lease on life, and so is school bus 914, which was scheduled to be taken out of service. <\/p>\n
Over the next year, the students at Old Donation School, as part of their capstone projects, will be giving these materials a fresh start by re-purposing those materials and creating an Eco Bus. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to convert the bus into this traveling exhibit that could go to different schools and show not only what we\u2019re doing in terms of sustainability, but what other folks are doing,\u201d said the division\u2019s sustainability officer Tim Cole.<\/p>\n
The concept originated when Old Donation School (ODS) Principal Kelly Hedrick read a blog about people across the country converting old buses in to classrooms. Her teachers loved the idea and ODS civics teacher Jared Fritzinger jumped on board for a very special reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid my father built the house that we lived in and I didn\u2019t know anything about it,\u201d Fritzinger said. \u201cI want students have a school experience that\u2019s not just classroom-based. I want the students to get the pleasure of designing something, working with their hands, building something that they had a hand in and learning skills that they might not normally get as part of the normal school experience every day. That\u2019s really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Fritzinger now involved, Hedrick approached Cole who wholeheartedly supported the idea. He asked the school division\u2019s Office of Transportation and Fleet Management Services if they had a bus that was going out of service. The answer was yes. He then contacted the Office Facilities Services about re-purposing the planks from the former PAMS to serve as the flooring on the bus. The answer again was yes. And when Fritzinger reached out to the Technical and Career Education (TCE) teacher Wayne Champigny to see if his students could help convert the diesel engine into one that runs on vegetable oil, they too were willing to help.<\/p>\n
When ODS students heard about the project, they shared the same excitement. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018that sounds amazing and I really have to work on that,\u2019\u201d said ODS eighth-grader Arianna Lawton. \u201cSustainability is good for our future and we can help students learn more about it.\u201d <\/p>\n
That enthusiasm prompted several ODS students to join Fritzinger Nov. 6 to prep the wood and remove all of the seats from bus 914 in one day.<\/p>\n
Eighth-grader Roman Perrine, who volunteered that day, is certain their work will have a positive effect. <\/p>\n \u201cWe get to convert something that would be thrown in the garbage and convert it to something that is used for a better purpose,\u201d he said. \u201cI just think it\u2019s cool to do something to really help the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"alt=""\"](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_8520.jpg\")
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