When Dasher Green Elementary School students visit the new senior center in the East Columbia Library next door, they will see patches of their school history.
At the grand opening of the East Columbia Senior Center on Dec. 12, 25 of the schools' fourth-graders presented the seniors with a 13-panel green quilt they designed when they were third-graders in the school's gifted and talented program. The county requires that third-graders learn historical research, so the Dasher Green students researched the history of their school and designed the quilt.
They gave it away "to welcome them [seniors] to the Dasher Green community," their teacher, Becky McArthur, said.
"I think it's really neat, because lots of people can come and see it," said Chris Loeffler, 9. "I did the art room" panel, he said.
"I did the playground," 9-year-old Jenny Walls said, pointing to her drawing on the bottom of the quilt. "It was easy."
The 4-by-4-foot colorful quilt also has panels noting the construction of the 18-year-old school and the school's bulldog mascot. The students signed their names in the middle of the quilt near a green fish and boat, which represented the school's logo in the early days. The fish and boat are both painted on a stained-glass window in the school's lobby.
The dominant color of the school's first historical quilt is green, identifying with the school's name, Mrs. McArthur said.
After the students used the school's PTA archives to do their research and decided what they wanted to illustrate, they drew scenes on paper and then transferred them to cloth. Parent volunteer Patty Stenpeck, who makes quilts as a hobby, sewed the quilt.
Then it was unveiled outside the multipurpose room inside the neighboring center.
"It's very beautiful," said the senior center's director, Cheryl "C. C." Pleasants. "It truly warms up the center here."
She added: "The seniors are already bragging about it when they have friends and family over."
The quilt symbolizes a budding partnership between the 540-student body school and the senior center. Seniors plan to invite the first-graders over in January to read the numbers on bingo balls, Ms. Pleasants said.
"There's so much potential in working together," she said. "We're within walking distance."
As part of a two-year reorganization to improve service for the county's 18,000 senior citizens, the Howard County Office on Aging officially opened the 105-capacity center earlier this month on Cradlerock Way. Seniors can eat lunch and learn Spanish and arts and crafts there.
In hindsight, the fourth-graders said the quilt project was both fun and educational.
"We learned who was here before us," Chris said.
They also learned organizational and handy lifelong research skills, Mrs. McArthur said.
"The students are real proud, as you can imagine," the teacher said.