By Danielle Smith

Leader Staff Writer

Heroes can come from anywhere and in any shape or size, but for Lakeville Elementary, these heroes came from Lowe’s.

Back in August, Kristin Guinn, principal of Lakeville, had someone visit her school. Ron Karalus told Guinn that he was the store manager of the Lowe’s in Rochester Hills and he wanted to help the school.

Lowe’s has a company-wide program called “Lowe’s Heroes.” This program gives employees the opportunity to support and improve their community through different projects in the hopes of extending a hand and leaving a “lasting impact.”

“(Karalus) said (he) had $2,500 through the Hero Program,” Guinn said. “His kiddos went through Lakeville and he’s got a sophomore up at the high school, so he wanted to give back.”

On Oct. 1, Karalus and his team met at Lakeville and got to work creating a rock garden in front of the school, installing a “Peace Pole,” attaching new soccer and basketball nets, painting games like four square on the cement portion of the playground and installing four new picnic tables.

Before the paint was even dry, Guinn said students were eager to create new games and utilize the equipment that was just installed.

“(Lowe’s) painted this pawprint on the playground. My third grade girls are doing Simon Says yoga on this pawprint. They go from point to point doing these yoga (poses). It’s allowed them to use their creativity to come up with new things at recess time,” Guinn said.

The soccer nets have also been a hit with the students. “As soon as the soccer nets went up, everybody was playing soccer. The kids love to play soccer in the first place, but now that the net is there, it’s huge,” she said.

The students at Lakeville are preparing to leave their own mark on the project and the school by painting rocks with some of the IB learner profiles that will be added to the rock garden. Fifth-graders will be the first ones to contribute to the garden since it is their last year at Lakeville before heading to the middle school.

The students were not the only ones excited to use some of the new equipment. With the addition of picnic tables, staff members are able to take the kids outside (weather permitting) to read or teach a lesson, giving everyone a different environment to learn in.

Guinn said everyone from students to faculty has been grateful for the generosity from Lowe’s and that students will be able to take away a lot from this experience.

“I think our students take it as people in the community care about us and they’re very appreciative,” she said. “I think it’s about caring; (Lowe’s) show(ed) how people care about us but then it leads into our students caring about others, trying to pay it forward.”

Since some community members utilize Lakeville’s playground on the weekends, they will benefit from the generosity as well.

“It was such a blessing just out of the blue…and (wanting) nothing in return,” Guinn said. “(We) didn’t have to apply for it, (we) didn’t have to beg, they just showed up one day like playground angels and made things better for us.”