Callaway Elementary's media center gets a brand new look. Take a peek inside

CALLAWAY — Students at Callaway Elementary School now have more modern resources with the completion of its newly renovated media center.

With the help of the St. Joe Community Foundation, Callaway Elementary unveiled what seems like a brand-new media center Friday morning. Callaway Elementary students, teachers and Bay District School officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony to showcase the center after it underwent months of renovations.

The ceremony included remarks from Superintendent Bill Husfelt, Callaway Principal Michelle Good and St. Joe Community Foundation Executive Director April Wilkes, followed by student-led tours of the center.

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The St. Joe Community Foundation provided funding that allowed the school to give the media center a brand-new look. The school transformed the center with freshly painted walls, new furniture, vinyl work, a supply of new books and a brand new book vending machine.

“Whenever we have a need, the St. Joe Community Foundation is always there to see how they can assist us,” Husfelt said. “From large projects to small ones, the generosity of the St. Joe Community Foundation is something we never take for granted, but it’s something for which we are always grateful.”

Good, who was a Callaway Elementary alumna in the 1980s, said the project was long overdue for the school after realizing much of what she remembered was still in use when she became the school’s principal in March 2022. She said her main focus as principal is to improve the school's beautification and resources for the students.

“We have a focus on bringing literacy to all of our scholars and have them proficient in reading, and to do that we have to have a fun, innovative, cool space to showcase our books to get our students excited about it,” Good said. “There’s been a loss of learning due to Hurricane Michael and the pandemic, so we’re really motivating our students to take education to a higher priority level.”

The renovation process started last summer after Good worked with Wilkes to discuss the necessary changes to the center. In all, the project took approximately two months to complete and was made available to students on the first day of school.

“It needed a facelift and it's really awesome for these students to have this opportunity,” Wilkes said. “We’re finding that literacy has become a real issue, so at least when they get here now, they’ll have a really fun and engaging environment. It felt really good seeing it when it was completed and I know that students were excited about it as well.”

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Newly renovated media center debuts at Callaway Elementary School