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Oak Mountain Elementary School recently saw renovations to its library and courtyard. (Contributed)

By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Students at Oak Mountain Elementary School now have two newly renovated spaces that they can take advantage of thanks to the generosity of others.

OMES celebrated the opening of its newly renovated library and courtyard on Feb. 27. Thanks to the generosity of Indian Springs Village, the school was able to completely renovate its library, and the school’s courtyard also saw renovations thanks to two parents—Stacy Stuart and Julio Tabin—who worked collaboratively to bring the area to life.

“We are thrilled to have our new library space,” OMES Principal Jan Curtis said. “The students are so excited about it. The teachers love it as well. It is so exciting to walk by the library and to see children sitting and reading and really enjoying that new space.”

Curtis said the OMES building is about 34 years old and she is not sure that the library has ever been renovated. Thanks to help from Indian Springs Village, the library was able to receive new paint, new flooring, new furniture, including shelving and seating. The library now features an open arrangement with a focus on providing children with locations to enjoy sitting down and reading, which is a design that seems to have found success as Curtis has already seen students taking advantage of the renovations.

“When walking by, children are always nestled in, sitting with a friend to share a book or sitting alone to read,” Curtis said. “So, the children love the new space.”

OMES also saw renovations to its courtyard which had previously seen flooding issues but now has been improved thanks to help of two students’ parents. Stuart and Tabin approached the school with the idea of renovating the space which led to the removal of a tree, the installation of artificial turf and a rebirth of the location.

“It is beautiful,” Curtis said. “They have given us a space that we can use every day of the year.”

Now, classes can go out to the courtyard and sit and read together, enjoy a lesson from the teacher, eat lunch at the picnic tables or play during recess.

“It is a beautiful space that has gone from really being something that we were not able to use very often to a space that we can use throughout each day,” Curtis said.

Curtis expressed her gratitude for those who helped make these new exciting opportunities possible for the students at Oak Mountain Elementary School.

“We are incredibly grateful to our community members and to our parents who value education,” Curtis said. “It takes all of our community working together to have a great school and we are so very appreciative of the gifts and the investment that these groups and these parents have made in our school. It’s an investment that we see the benefit of every day

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