Four DHS seniors were awarded a $1,500 scholarship for bringing some more color to the Dublin City Park.
The funds were awarded through the Texas Midwest Community Network Leadership program in which the group competed against seven other teams in projects to help their community. The quartet of Tatum Babkowski, Hayden Milburn, Emma Mitchell and Olivia Salyer (under the mentorship of teachers Regina Rasberry and Shawn Bradford) placed third for constructing and filling raised flowerbeds by the City Park.
Mitchell reported beds weren’t the first idea they had (that was cleaning up the pool area, but they hit obstacles there), but they knew they wanted to do something at the park- a resource that Salyer agreed was valuable to the community.
“I think one of the reasons we wanted to beautify [the park] is because we have a lot of festivals, baseball games and events there,” Emma said. “We wanted to do something to help make it beautiful for our community.”
Rasberry reported the group invested around 50 hours over several months, working around busy schedules including classwork, sports, camps and other extracurricular activities.
Although the four admitted they hadn’t heard of the TMCN program before they were approached about it, Hayden said they were “excited to be able to give back to the community, give back to the town.”
When asked who had the most flower experience, the guys immediately pointed at Emma and Olivia but they got help from Texas Sage, which donated plants and offered advice on the best selections.
Tatum said they found the plan for the boxes online so they could build them. They were installed at the end of September by the north entrance near the newer playground equipment.
For more information on the Leadership TMCN program, visit https:// tmcn.org/leadershiptmcn.