- Jon Spaner ('02-03)

On Saturday, November 23, 2002, the White House Fellows partnered with 22 students from a local charter school to clean local parks and paint decrepit concrete playground toys. The Supporting Excellence in Education (SEED) Foundation* Public Charter School of Washington, DC was founded in 1998 as the Nation's first urban public boarding school. Students there enter the seventh grade committed to a six-year education that prepares them for college and beyond.

The White House Fellows and SEED School students proved to be a winning combination! Three local parks were cleaned, hundreds of spring bulbs were planted, more than 50 bags of leaves were collected, and two large playground toys were repainted. Thanks to a fun, innovative (and messy!) suggestion by David Carmel, a playground seal in southeast D.C. is now painted in abstract blue and gray - the students enjoyed the mess involved with slinging paint at this large concrete object. They also enjoyed dipping their hands in blue paint and imprinting handprints all over a large, yellow playground toy modeled as Swiss cheese.

While the students had the option of leaving in the early afternoon, 16 of the students asked their parents for permission to stay until the late afternoon to finish work yet to be completed. The Fellows and SEED School students worked until 5:00 p.m. to accomplish every goal set at the beginning of the day.

Many thanks to Fellow Cesar Aristeiguieta ('02-03) for coordinating this project!

• The SEED Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing innovative educational opportunities in urban areas. More information about the program is available at www.seedfoundation.com