What do you get when you mix middle school students, recycled editions of The Greenville Advocate and a strong dose of creativity?

In the case of 30 Greenville Middle School Learn and Serve members, that recipe yields a bevy of beautiful Easter hats destined to brighten senior citizens’ days.

“We started with Mr. (W.S.) Godwin and ‘Miss’ Nancy (Idland) pressing the sheets of newspaper down on our heads and then wrapping around our heads with tape to start the hats,” explained 6th grader Lindsey Gibson.

These hat forms were then topped with more layers of paper before being spray painted, Gibson said.

Then came the really fun part: the decoration.

“That’s my favorite part,” said 5th grader Leeundra Patton with a smile.

An ample supply of tinsel, ribbon, artificial flowers, flounces, and more were chosen and hot-glued into place.

The colorful array of completed Easter bonnets was delivered by the students on Wednesday to the residents of Crowne Health Care in Greenville.

“We wanted to bring a touch of spring to the folks at Crowne and we know they always enjoy seeing the young people, too,” said Idland.

Learn and Serve, which is funded through a 21st Century Grant, helps students participate in after-school projects to improve their community.

“We felt like this was a great project in several ways,” said Godwin. “It teaches the value of recycling; it gives the kids a chance to be creative and have fun, and it reaches out to seniors in our community.”

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