FHS holds ribbon cutting for new courtyard
Farragut High School Parent Teacher Student Organization and faculty cut the ribbon on its renovated outdoor courtyard in front of FHS Nov. 29.
The new courtyard features new concrete benches and tables, two large pots and a star.
“I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled,” Cara Phillips, PTSO landscape committee member, said. “It definitely was a joint effort. We had volunteers from my church, First Baptist Concord.
“They came out and renovated all the old structures. We just asked and they did that for us.”
“We are incredibly pleased with it,” FHS principal Ryan Siebe said about the renovated courtyard. “We are thankful for the support of the PTSO. We couldn’t be happier with the result. The kids love it.
“They utilize it all the time. When the weather is good, they are out here, and I think when the weather is not so good, they are out here.”
The project, which started in August, came to $3,000 to complete, Phillips said. FHS PTSO hired J.B. Rhea Pottery, owned by Roger Rhea, to make and install the tables.
“They are just a blessing,” she said. “They are just wonderful folks to work with.”
The funding came from school funds and PTSO donations, Phillips said.
Rhea said two representatives came to his business to purchase four tables with benches.
“They were pleased with them and ordered 14 more, plus two big pots and a big star,” he said.
“Parents, faculty, community volunteers, FHS PTSO and JB Rhea & Sons Pottery worked together, over the past two months, to provide students at Farragut High School with an outdoor courtyard,” PTSO member Diana Van Leuven said.
“All the pieces fell into place, ”Van Leuven said. “It was really a partnership between the PTSO, parents and volunteers. “We want parents to know [fees paid to PTSO] is going somewhere. They can come and have lunch with the students.”
The existing metal seating, which was more than 20 years old, had become a health hazard for students, Van Leuven said. Exposed rebar left only a few places on which students or faculty could sit.
“This summer, the power went out and we had to come out [in the courtyard] and do our work,” Siebe said. “On one bench, the seat was cattywampus.”
“Some [of the benches] were dangerous because some of the metal was discombobulated, broken and uneven,” PTSO president Lori Moczadlo said.
“FHS PTSO Landscape Com-mittee, a joint committee of parent volunteers and administrators under the leadership of Farragut assistant principal Dwayne Simmons, led the effort to bring together the resources to complete the much needed project,” she said.
“I love it,” Simmons said. “What we had at the beginning of the year was hazardous.”
