Spartan Legacy park to leave lasting legacy in Rosalia

Members of Rosalia’s graduating class cut the ribbon on Spartan Legacy Park.

The Gifted Grannies are all smiles in the freshly renewed community gathering place.

The graduating class of 2016 from Rosalia High School decided to change things up this year by donating their time cleaning up what some thought to be an ugly spot in downtown.

“It was a visual eyesore before, and now with the coffee shop being downtown I think it will be nice for people to enjoy and stop and sit there,” said senior Kendra Hartman.

The Spartan Legacy Park is located between Rosalia Coffee & More and the old Turnley building. The piece of land was chosen by the senior class out of five other areas of concern to clean up for their service project this year. Previously, seniors had to commit to completing 50 hours of community service before graduation, but this year the visual arts and senior project teacher Sean Moss changed the requirement to 25 hours of outside service and the completion of a project together as a class.

“The seniors really came together and really wanted to leave a lasting legacy,” said Moss. “They wanted to centralize their work and I am sure the whole town can see that.”

In addition to their own labor, the graduates had help from sponsors including the Gifted Grannies, Washington Education Association, Plants of the Wild, Mr. Ray Anderson, Hy-Mark Wood, Creative Edging and Smith Country Shop, all of which donated a combined $6,000 in monetary donations and supplies.

“I learned to be more professionally assertive and more communicative with businesses; as well I learned to make more decisions professionally,” said Hartman.