Friendship Bridge Unites Oak Park, Lakeview Elementary Schools
The Friendship Bridge, waterfalls and gardens are the result of a Kennedy Center/MetLife grant.
A metaphoric bridge intended to span and embrace the differences between young students became a literal one, as The Friendship Bridge was officially dedicated on the grounds of Oak Park and Lakeview Elementary schools. The two side-by-side Sarasota County schools have always had a mostly unused bridge between them. Over the years, it had fallen into neglect and was pretty much forgotten—until Brenda Smoak, National Very Special Arts (VSA) Teaching Artist Fellow and Teaching Artist with the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, stepped in. “The students learned about each other and happily helped one another accomplish various tasks,” said Smoak, who is an occassional Patch contributor. “Having students work together like this at such a young …
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kurt Boesenberg
10:28 am on Tuesday, January 1, 2013
What a great opportunity for both students and staff at both schools. Now it is our challenge to move the message forward, that we can all touch and change lives by understanding each others abilities and limitations working together. I am one of the many teachers at Oak Park that had the privilege of collaborating in this project. Thank you to our administrators at both the school level and … more ›