Elmont's Gotham Avenue School gets splashes of color on blacktop beautification project
Manahal Ali, 10, and her mom Zulaikha Butt helped paint the schoolyard at Gotham Avenue School in Elmont Saturday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Manahal Ali grasped a roller and dipped it into a tray of bright orange paint, gently spreading it across a stencil of a paw print — an emblem of Elmont's Gotham Avenue School mascot, Thunder the Gray Wolf.
The prints, oriented in a circle around the school's recess yard, were part of a community-driven blacktop beautification project organized by students and staff at the elementary school. Community members came to the schoolyard Saturday morning and afternoon to play games and paint different sections of the blacktop, from new tic-tac-toe areas and a running track to a drone launching pad.
"That's our school's mascot," said Ali, 10, a fourth grader from Elmont, adding she looked forward "to painting the paws."
The project was years in the making. Originally the brainchild of Pamela Stamidis, director of curriculum and instruction in the Elmont Union Free School District, the idea to create painted activity areas on the blacktop began in 2022. The school received a grant from Home Depot for the paint and other supplies and went through a student government process where students made decisions on the design of the outdoor learning area.
"We always say in student government that student voices make great choices, and in order for students to be invested in school, they need a voice," said Lindsey Bascetta, a classroom teacher at the school and a student government adviser.
Parents, staff and volunteers laid out stencils in the schoolyard for a conflict resolution zone, where students can work out issues, and other stations where they can play games like hop scotch and the mirror game. The paint began to flow in the late morning: Vibrant pink, blue, yellow and orange flourishes accented the large play area.
Blake Angus, 9, a fourth grader at the school, was using a brush dipped in aqua blue paint to brighten up a corner of the playground. He usually plays basketball or tag during recess, he said, and was looking forward to seeing the finished product.
It's going to be "a beautiful canvas," said Angus, of Elmont.
The school worked to make the project a collaborative and community-built space, said Corrine Peretz, a resource room teacher at the school.
"They know they helped create it, which is really cool," Peretz said. "They can explore, make up games and use their freedom of creativity."
While stencils were being placed in the main section of the schoolyard, high school volunteers played games like bean bag toss with the elementary school students.
Sharlee Banatte, of Elmont, went to the school as a child and brought her daughter, Carlee, 7, who is now in second grade at Gotham Avenue School. She said it's important for her daughter to be involved and take part in the community.
The blacktop beautification project, she said, is about doing their part to beautify a place they call home.
"It's not just for my kid, it's for all the kids here, the future kids," Banatte said. "It's for everybody."
