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Community Corner

Evergreen Elementary to Celebrate 20th Birthday

Biggest change at Joint Base Lewis-McChord school? Constantly evolving military life.

They’re going to party like it’s 1991.

The staff and students of Evergreen Elementary will celebrate the school's 20th birthday on Friday, Feb. 11, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the school, 9010 Blaine Ave., on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

The event, which was largely conceived by the school's PTA, will include family activities, a book fair and, of course, a birthday cake. Staff members have been working on historical displays including one depicting themselves when they were 20, and a timeline of the school.

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Celebrating is nothing new at Evergreen, said Jeff Wilson, the school’s classroom coach and the event’s organizer.

“It’s kind of a numerical thing,” he said. “We did something at the 10-year, and so with (the 20th birthday) rolling around, the PTA and the principal said ‘hey, let’s do something.’ ”

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In addition, Wilson said, there are still a handful of current staff members who were there when Evergreen opened. He has been at the school for 13 years.

“They opened the school,” he said. “Just the clientele has changed. The military is not the same military as it was 20 years ago.”

Asked to elaborate, Wilson said that when he started at the school, “you went through a tiny little checkpoint, and you just had to have stickers on your car … and then war broke out, and security suddenly started changing.”

He said that the War on Terror has made staff “much more aware of what is going on” just because of what it takes to actually get to work. Even so, he added, that isn’t the biggest change.

“You also saw it in the families, the children,” he said. “The concerns of a child 13 years ago are very different than they are now.”

Wilson said that there are students on campus who have grown up knowing nothing but war.

“Some of them have seen us more than they have seen their biological parent because they have been deployed so many times,” he said. “Life in general has changed.”

Fourth graders at the school are designing a 20th birthday limited edition T-shirt; staff members will narrow the entries down to five and attendees of the celebration will vote for their favorite. The finished product will be showcased on school shirts and sold by Evergreen’s PTA.

Next week will be a Spirit Week for the Timberwolves, including a costume day and a project by each grade level to celebrate the school’s birthday. The first graders are sponsoring a sock, glove and hat drive for Caring for Kids, which serves low-income students in the Clover Park School District.

On the big day, Friday, the party will start early, with the school holding a pair of “Cool Kid” assemblies, one for kindergarten through second grade; the other for afternoon kindergarten and third through fifth grade. Students will wear their school colors, blue and green.

The actual birthday celebration is somewhat modeled after a Dr. Seuss night the school held last March, and Wilson said he expects it to be a fun night where families can do something together.

“It’s a different kind of celebration, to come out and enjoy school for a night,” he said. “We don’t often get to do that – not worry about grades or homework.”

Wilson said that while the event is geared toward Evergreen staff and families, they have invited the other schools in the district – and also expect former administrators, teachers and students to be in attendance.

Those wanting to attend without access to the base must check in at the Visitor’s Center at the Main Gate on the Fort Lewis side.

For more information, contact Wilson at 583-5250 or jwilson@cloverpark.k12.wa.us.

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