Nearly 300 top executives from a global financial services company descended on the Sherman ElementarySchool on Thursday to lend their hands–and their spirits–to a South Side elementary school that is in the midst of a dramatic turnaround.
Employees from HSBC North America, in town for a company conference, gathered at the New City school, 1000 W. 52nd St., and helped pupils plant an educational garden, paint murals, develop a new teacher resource center and spruce up the surrounding landscaping.
As gold and white balloons fluttered in the wind, the executives knelt in the dirt and helped youngsters spread topsoil and plant rose bushes. They crouched on the ground and helped them paint lively, inspirational murals to hang on the walls. Some even danced in a circle with the pupils on the playground.
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“This is certainly more fun than an executive golf outing,” said Vancouver-based HSBC executive Graham McIsaac, as he helped pupils lay a stone path in the educational garden. “This is about teamwork and helping the kids–and that is so much more meaningful. When I saw the kids’ faces light up when we got here, well, it was quite wonderful.”
Henry Walton, an 8th grader at Sherman, echoed those sentiments.
“It’s more fun than being in school,” said Henry, 13. “I love to play in the dirt. And I know how to dig the best holes because I do it a lot when I go fishing and I’m looking for worms.”
Sherman is getting quite a bit of attention these days. The school has undergone a transformation as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act to improve public schools. The principal, the teachers and the rest of the staff were replaced this year. A new reading and math curriculum was selected, and management of the school was turned over to the Academy for Urban School Leadership, a private, non-profit company.
Lionel Allen, the school’s new principal, said Sherman’s success largely depends on collaboration with community leaders, philanthropic groups and businesses.
“We all have to work together,” he said.
On Thursday, Sherman pupils and teachers, 270 HSBC executives, community leaders and a sprinkling of parents worked side-by-side for about three hours. On one side of the school, a group of the Prospect Heights-based company’s executives worked with about two dozen pupils to create a garden that will be used as an outdoor classroom in the gritty and economically depressed neighborhood. The garden, designed by the Chicago Botanic Garden, includes spirea bushes, lilacs, roses and various grasses.
Totanisha Jones, 8, and her cousin Diamond White, 7, were in charge of designing a raised flowerbed section. After moving stones and trying out a few designs, the girls–with the guidance of an HSBC executive–finally settled on a pattern of three interconnecting rings. The youngsters helped level the soil and line the stones in a pattern they described as “very pretty.”
But when it came time to spread the topsoil, Totanisha had focused on a different task. Sitting on the ground, with a small planting shovel in her hand, the 2nd grader was digging a deep hole.
“I’m digging for treasures,” she said.
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