Pauls Valley High School’s senior class is breathing new life into the school’s aging courtyard with a renovation project that will add new picnic tables and landscaping to the area.
But the project isn’t just about beautification. Rather, it is to honor the memory of a friend and classmate who won’t be walking across the stage with them in May.
The student-led renovation project is intended as a permanent memorial for classmate Grant Marcum-Jones, who died in a car accident in July, just weeks before the start of his senior year.
“Honestly, it’s been more of a project for us students to find closure,” said Phoenix Meyer, who is spearheading the project along with fellow senior Zoely Stephens.
“Since he passed away over the summer, the school wasn’t really able to provide a lot of outlets for it. It never really was a topic of discussion. This was something we just felt we needed to do for our own peace of mind,” Meyer said.
Stephens and Meyer said they began thinking about creating a memorial not long after school started in August, but the planning process didn’t get underway until after Christmas break.
That was when they began a small group discussion with 10 to 15 other senior students who were close to Grant, trying to decide what exactly the memorial should be.
Stephens said they also spent time talking to their senior class sponsor and English teacher, Cara Gaddy, trying to find an idea that wasn’t overly costly and, with the goal of completing the project before graduation in May, could be accomplished in the short amount of time they had.
“We just got started talking about him and how he was and if there was anything at the school that could truly represent how we all knew him, and that’s how redoing the courtyard came into play,” Stephens said.
Gaddy said Grant was a friend to everyone, and that’s one of the reasons they decided to focus on the courtyard – a place where it’s natural for people to gather.
The existing concrete picnic tables and benches, which have been in the courtyard for years, had fallen into a state of disrepair.
“They were to the point some of them couldn’t even be used because they were missing the tops to the seats or the tables were half falling apart,” Meyer said.
The planned renovation includes removing the existing concrete tables and pads and replacing them with new concrete pads and seven expanded-metal picnic tables with weatherproof coatings. A memorial marker bearing Grant’s name, a photo of him, and the inscription “Class of 2023” will be installed in the courtyard, along with a new tree to be planted by students.
Stephens and Meyer said they plan to offer students the opportunity to purchase river rocks they can write a message on and place at the base of the tree. The rocks will serve as a landscape feature, allowing the student body as a whole to take an active part in the memorial. The proceeds from the sale of the rocks will go towards the memorial project and its upkeep.
Students also plan to repaint the existing Panther paw prints on the sidewalk that leads from the parking lot to the gym, along the edge of the courtyard.
“I feel like this is a way we can honor him that will last,” Gaddy said. “People can look out at the courtyard and remember Grant for years to come. His memory can continue to live on well past the class of 2023. I really think that is important.”
Gaddy said the school district has been supportive of the students’ ideas, willing to listen and help however it can – an approach she has employed as well.
“I’ve just kind of been in the background and supporting them, whatever they need,” Gaddy said. “These girls really took the reins. They are really dedicated to this project.”
As the project has taken shape, the students leading it have had to work their way through various levels of official approval from school administrators, culminating in Stephens and Meyer appearing before the Board of Education during the board’s regular meeting earlier this month. They presented school board members with their proposal in detail, complete with cost estimates and project timelines.
Once the board was apprised of the project and had no objections, Meyer said they were free to begin actively fundraising for the memorial renovations.
The project is expected to cost just over $8,000.
L.A. Jacobson, Inc. offered to donate concrete for the picnic table pads. Stephens and Meyer said they have also reached out to other local businesses for financial donations and are setting collection jars out at several establishments to help facilitate donations from the public.
As of Wednesday, Gaddy said they are about halfway to their goal.
Meyer said the entire senior class met just before spring break to hear the final plan for the project and discuss fundraising efforts going forward.
“Afterwards, other students came up and said, ‘Hey, we’re part of this organization. We’ll do a fundraiser and match with this club.’ So, we do have a lot of help from the student body,” Meyer said. “It’s definitely been difficult and it’s a work in progress. But we’re finally doing it and that’s something.”
Donations to the Grant Marcum-Jones Memorial can be made by cash or check and should be dropped off at Pauls Valley High School, 601 North Street, during school hours. For more information, call 405-207-0203 or 405207-1652.
