Woodridge alumnus leaves legacy for students

By Jen Cowart
Posted 6/28/17

By JEN COWART When thinking about what he should do for his Eagle Scout project, former Woodridge student Jeffrey Marchetti didn't have to think very long about what he wanted to do. The worn out blacktop at his former elementary school was in need of a

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Woodridge alumnus leaves legacy for students

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When thinking about what he should do for his Eagle Scout project, former Woodridge student Jeffrey Marchetti didn’t have to think very long about what he wanted to do. The worn out blacktop at his former elementary school was in need of a facelift.

“I chose to redo the blacktop here because I went to Woodridge Elementary School and my brother, Jake, goes here,” he said. “All the stuff that used to be painted on the blacktop was all gone, it might as well have not been here. I remember when it used to be here, now it’s all faded. The kids can play here, but there are no more colors, no brightness left.”

Marchetti, who will be a senior in the fall at Cranston High School West, went through the required processes to get his project approved and sent out letters asking for donations to various businesses. Home Depot responded, and from there, Marchetti began asking friends and family to help out with the painting project, which as it turns out, took place on June 11 which ended up being one of the hottest days of the month so far.

A design was created which incorporated the original artwork that had been on the blacktop already, Hopscotch games, Four Square, and a giant United States map, with two new versions of Hopscotch added in at the request of the school’s PE/Health teacher, Pat Burgess.

“Ms. Burgess asked for some different Hopscotch games to be added in, so we did an Italian Hopscotch and a French one, so we have a lot of games here and it’s not overcrowded; there was a lot of space to work with,” Marchetti said. “We also decided to use a lot of non-traditional colors, which brightened it up a lot.”

Marchetti and his crew worked diligently in the hot sun from morning through late afternoon on the project, the thought of the students’ surprise come Monday morning as they arrived at school and saw the new artwork brightening their outdoor space.

“Most of the students don’t know, they’re going to be surprised,” Marchetti said.

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