EDISON- JohnMarshall elementary school, Edison, formally celebrated the opening of its new gym on April 2. The celebration, which took place in the new gym, featured songs and dances by many students and concluded with a ribboncutting ceremony by the principal, the acting superintendent and a Board of Education member.
According to school Principal Gerald Young, the gym has been operational for a number of months, though a formal opening ceremony had not yet taken place.
The gym is the final part in a series of renovations and improvements that were constructed over the past 18 months, and also include additional classrooms, music and art rooms, and a full-service cafeteria. Ground was broken on the $5.5 million improvement cycle on Nov. 20, 2006.
The afternoon event opened with the fifth-grade chorus singing the classic patriotic song “Fifty Nifty United States,” with students holding up various state flags as the song begins naming each of the 50 states in the U.S.
After this, Young introduced the guests who were attending the event, before giving the floor to a team of fourth- and fifth-graders performing a traditional Colombian dance. Seven boys dressed in white and wearing hats, and seven girls in long, bright red skirts paired off to perform the dance.
Once the dance had ended, acting Superintendent John Dimuzio talked about how nice the new additions were and then said that such expansions are needed throughout the township.
“The facility we’re in right now is what we need throughout the township,” said Dimuzio, who urged people to support the $52 million referendum to build a new school and add on to four more. “To have excellent teachers, we need smaller class sizes, and the only way to do that is to add on to our schools.”
Following the acting superintendent’s comments, the kindergartners sang
Character Counts,” a song about how people shouldn’t be judged by their appearances, because it’s what’s inside that counts.
Once the students sat back down, Young came out again and talked about how before the expansion, physical education, lunch and assemblies were all held in the cafeteria, and that there had been no place for art and music classes. Now, however, things are different.
“We have room for assemblies, we have room to exercise … and it was all the vision of a handful of people who said someone had to do something about this,” said Young. “It’s all about the kids.”
After this, the first-grade class took the floor and performed a kinesthetic dance, in which upbeat music accompanied instructions such as “Right foot now. Left foot now, y’all. Cha-cha real smooth to the left. Take it back now.”
Once the students had left the floor, PTA president Suzette DeAraujo noted that John Marshall, as the first school to get additions in a long time, could be used a model for the other elementary schools facing issues related to overcrowding.
“Our teachers taught with less than ideal conditions. … Did our students learn? You bet. … However, the environment was not as conducive,” said DeAraujo.
After this, the second-graders got up and sang the school song, “You’re a Grand Old School,” which, Young said, had not been sung in a while. The song was sung to the tune of “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
Following the second-graders came the third-graders, who read aloud in unison a poem they wrote, about how different and diverse they all are but at the end of the day, they are all still a family, and that their school is a lovely place to be because of it.
Following this, gym teacher Jeff Yannazzo talked about how during the construction period, holding class with heavy machines moving in the background was difficult, but that the wait was definitely worth it.
“We have the high ceilings for any type of game,” Yannazzo said. “The walls are padded so when the children are running around, they don’t get knocked down. We have cushioned flooring, so when someone falls, the floor is cushioned so there’s no abrasions or impact injures. We also have a great sound system. But the best thing is now our square footage – we can have 60 to 70 children moving around very vigorously at one time without any type of accident.”
Finally, Board of Education Vice President Joe Romano, Dimuzio and Young all proceeded to the back of the gym, near the room’s back doors, where they cut a large ribbon, to much applause and cheering.