7
Location: Vixen Point, Gorda Sound
Today, we went to Robinson O’Neil Primary School and help the 6th Graders with their annual community service project, which was helping the school, transform a messy and pretty cluttered back area into a welcoming, educational, and safe space where the students can thrive. The school had previously collected donated and used tires that were already painted a bit in the colors red and yellow. We were told that these tires would later become the base of reading space, a wishing well, a snake, and minion planters. We gathered up partners or groups to paint with so the actual sixth graders could have jobs, be included and say that they did this, not just GoBeyond. My group swished around a bit, but it was usually/always a girl named Caitlyn, Rudell, and Jamal. The reading nook had a table and a few chairs that alternated having two tires stacked and painted red or yellow. The table was like a flowery diamond with the corners being two tires stacked painted just like the chairs. The snake was made out of four tires painted with yellow diamonds getting smaller as one gets closer to the tail; we dug a linear hole to stick the snake tires in and the bury them halfway. We made minions from yellow painted tires that we dried and stacked and painted on the overalls and face on them. The reading nook was all red and yellow while the snake was all green with some yellow, so there was a ton of color variation throughout. I started my painting jobs with painting a stack of two tires that were going to be a red chair. It got a bit crowded, so half my group split to start another chair. Some of my peers and shipmates also played with first and third graders during their “recess.” They also got super messy because of how involved they were with face paint. I didn’t spend much of any time playing. After the big day at school, we went to the big GoBeyond and Action Quest BBQ, as usual, I was tired.