Wildomar Rap: • Sycamore Academy Ribbon Cutting

A terrific accomplishment by all that were involved in the construction of Sycamore Academy. On April 9th I wrote a blog about the ground breaking, and now on October 16th they're having a ribbon cutting. If that isn't impressive enough for you, they've actually been having classes for nearly a month now.

A look from behind Barbara Hale as she was addressing the crowd.

Director/Principal of the school Barbara Hale, spoke and received certificates from State Senator Jeff Stone's office and Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore gave a certificate on behalf of the city.

It takes a team effort to build a school. This was far beyond a team effort, this was a band of heroes, our own Fantastic Four. The leader of that Fantastic Four is the lady by my side, Barbara Hale. Without her "never say die attitude," without her relentless engergy, without her passion, we would not be here at this point; and we really need to acknoledge that. I've been at this for thirty years and I've never had a client that was this adamant, this professional, and this energetic to get this done... and we're blown away. We've never had a school go [up] this quickly.

-Tom Kruse, PJHM Archetects

Grant Hamel, of Hamel Construction, holds up a gift from the school showing a before and
after of the project entitled "From Dirt to School in Five Months." Barbara Hale is on the left.

Just in case it isn't already known. Sycamore is a public charter school, not a private school. Any student in the district can apply to attend.

Bob Cashman, Bridgette Moore, Roland "Skoom" Skoomavitz (w/scissors), Grant Hamel, Tom Kruse, Clyde Han.

This is truly a terrific campus. It's so nice looking it almost hurts your eyes. Someday the current students will tell stories to their grand kids, of how they used to attend school in a shopping center, and then found themselves on a Cinderella like campus the next school year.

A look from behind the guests during the ceremony.

Looking down at the new playground equipment from the ballfield.

A look at the facade of the school.

Rooms are separated by"barndoors" that are on tracks for easy opening and closing.

Below is a picture of their walking track and sports field. The track is about as wide as a sidewalk and snakes around in a loop that is at least a quarter of a mile.

Isn't that a great view that the students will have once the field is ready for use?

My brother Jeff is part of the team at Sycamore Academy and he was showing me his office. That building was just cleared for them to use today.

I'm the one with the awesome forehead and a number on my shirt.
Jeff and Joseph Morabito.

He hadn't even been in the multi-purpose room (seen behind the ribbon cutting) until today nor has he been up to the field yet. It's still fenced off, and as you can see. It doesn't have any turf yet, but such things are to be expected when getting a new school ready for students in record time. Things like administration offices are a luxury... but now they're up and running.

After the ribbon cutting it was fun to share some of Sycamore's spread, various antipasto trays with many varieties along with fresh fruit and cookies too, with my brother along with Bob Cashman and Bridgette Moore. Also at our table was Mark Dennis, Coordinator of Community & Media Relations of the superintendent's office.

I was enjoying the conversation about a project that our City Councilman Bob Cashman is working on, dealing with a plane that may have belonged to Amelia Earhart.

A link to the blog about the ground breaking from April 9th.