Date: Fri 18-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JEFF

Quick Words:

Srikantian-Haynes-swing

Full Text:

Swing Set Construction Proves Educational

(with photo)

BY JEFF WHITE

As the hour approached noon last Friday afternoon, Emma Haynes and Ashwini

Srikantian hammered the last nail into the swing set they constructed behind

the high school.

The two senior high school students built the swing set as part of their

political action project for their government class.

The design of the project is left up to the student, and both Ms Haynes and Ms

Srikantian entertained various ideas that combined creativity and

distinctiveness.

As far as the project requirements, explained Ms Srikantian, "basically if you

want to do something, you just go out and do it."

By late January the two settled on a swing set, and the months that followed

were spent making project proposals, setting budgets, and getting the basic

permissions.

The Newtown High School student government funded the cost of construction,

which rose to about $1,000, according to Ms Haynes.

On top of financial aid, Haynes and Srikantian received the support of between

30 and 40 student volunteers who gave their time to build the swing set after

school. At any one time, there were five people working on construction.

Dom Posca, the head of maintenance for all Newtown schools, oversaw the

project from its inception. Mr Posca, a professional builder, has been

involved in every Newtown school project for the last 15 years, according to

Ms Haynes, and his expertise and experience proved "invaluable."

The two seniors claim that there has been a huge student response throughout

the high school. "We built it with high school students and adults in mind,

some place for people to hang out during free periods or sporting events," Ms

Srikantian explained.

The project has proved educational for these two students. They had the

opportunity to learn how a building project is brought to completion, from

initial proposals and budget developments, to the cost of raw materials.

"We were skeptical at first," Ms Srikantian said, not knowing if the idea

would be embraced by school officials. But after a positive endorsement from

Principal William Manfredonia and the backing of the student government, doubt

turned into determination.

"It's a nice thing to have," said Ms Srikantian. "It's such an unconventional

thing to do, and we got it done anyway."