SHINE students bring ‘well’ wishes to Palmerton Library

SHINE students dropped by the Palmerton Area Library recently, bringing with them well wishes and a mesh cage full of live butterflies.

Every year, SHINE, an after-school program where children practice hands-on learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, chooses a service learning project for students to participate in, Michelle Davis, lead teacher at Parkside Education Center in Palmerton, said.

For their 2019 project, kids built wooden wishing wells and donated them to local organizations.

“We wanted to give it to a member of the community that really gives back to the community,” Davis said. “That’s when we thought about the Palmerton Library.”

Davis said it only took students one day to build the well (not counting next the day, when part of the well was taken apart because some students who were absent wanted a chance to practice their handiwork.) The kids were in charge of every step, from building the well’s base to tying on its bucket.

But the well isn’t the only gift SHINE brought to the library.

Over the past two weeks, the children raised more than two dozen caterpillars, helping facilitate their transition into butterflies. They decided to release the insects right in front of the Palmerton Area Library, as part of their well presentation.

SHINE set free a total of 31 butterflies.

Library Programs Administrator Rachel DeMicco said that the well will be placed inside the library building. It will be a place for patrons to make their own “wishes” for the library, like suggestions or ideas for community involvement.

“It’s really important to make sure that this space reflects the good works of our community,” DeMicco said. “The wishing well really represents that.”