Callaway Elementary School Media Center gets a makeover

CALLAWAY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Renovations have been completed at the Callaway Elementary School Media Center.

Friday the school held a ribbon cutting ceremony to showcase its new and improved media center which includes a new paint job, furniture, vinyl work and a vending machine that dispenses books.

The move was sponsored by the St. Joe Community Foundation who donated the funds necessary to complete the project.

April Wilkes is the Executive Director for the St. Joe Community Foundation. She says the foundation is all about preparing future leaders.

“I think it’s incredible. this is amazing to see. There are so many older schools in the community and this one just got a facelift,” Wilkes said. “Literacy and education are hand in hand. Reading is one of the most important things a child can do and that’s what’s going to bring our leaders.”

Major work on the media center took about two months to complete.

Callaway Elementary School Principal Michelle Good says the renovation was long overdue.

“When I came aboard last year, I noticed that our media center was a little drought. It was the exact same as when I was a scholar here and literacy is so important to our schoolers,” she said. “So, I reached out to St. Joe. I wrote a grant, and they were so accommodating in accepting the grant. We received new furniture, new books, a book vending machine, books to fill the vending machine. Community members Tyndall Airforce base they helped paint. We had a local contractor do the decals on the wall just to make it a fun inviting space to learn.”

Guests who participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony got to enjoy refreshments provided by Coca-Cola and they even received a tour by young role models a part of the school’s Guys in Ties program.

Fifth grader Dustin Schwarzentraub is a member of Guys in Ties. He says he is content with the media center makeover.

“I’ve been coming here my whole life, and this is the first year it’s probably been the best it has been,” Schwarzentraub said. “I would love to come every day if I could.”

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