WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- With a few coats of paint, more than 100 volunteers, and a whole lot of vision, Heights-Murray Elementary School is looking brand new and ready to welcome students back to class on Monday.
"To be honest, it's really exciting because people care about the community, and to see them help the school be better," said Eshana Ajo, a sixth grade student
Back in July, Wells Fargo notified Heights-Murray administration that they were the recipients of $70,000 to use to update their school. Those upgrades also include a brand new room for students and staff.
We also did install a mindfulness room, which will be given the opportunity to students and teachers to take their classes in there to calm down, work on focusing on kindness, and improving their overall well-being in the building to learn better," said Melissa Myers, principal of Heights-Murray Elementary.
Not only is the mindfulness room new but so are the murals painted by volunteers from Wells Fargo, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, and students from Wilkes University.
Not only are volunteers sprucing up the inside of the school, but also outside, including a brand new playset on the playground.
"During recess time prior to today, our children had nothing but blacktop and some balls to play around with during recess. The playground area now, there is a new playset, basketball hoops, new painting for hopscotch, and so on," explained Myers.
Volunteers who helped paint say they are excited for students to see the renovations.
"It's awesome because not too many people get to meet the kids here at Heights, and they are very deserving of this renovation from Wells Fargo," said Michael Brown, who is a senior elementary education major at Wilkes University.
While the playground still needs a little more landscaping work, the majority of the renovations have been completed and will be waiting for students to see on Monday.