Senior Project rejuvenates volleyball in Grace

The volleyball court at the Grace City Park had been looking a little rough lately, so senior Tessica Jorgensen decided to use her senior project to improve the facilities for everyone.

Jackie Barthlome was Tessica’s mentor for the project.  “Every year, the state of Idaho requires every senior to do a project.  The project requirements are 20 hours, but Grace High School requires 40.  They have to have a mentor, who gives them about ten hours of help.  Then they have to come in and determine what they are going to do."

“So,” Bathlome said, “she redid our volleyball court!  She dug out the sand that was here, and brought in three truck loads of sand to replace it.  She put new poles in, and bought a new net.”  The project had become bigger than the city originally thought.

“Last fall,” Barthlome said, “we were going to dig up the poles because they were leaning, but they are in sonic tubes.”

The way the poles were placed alongside the court made it difficult to replace directly, so the project ultimately involved placing  larger poles over the original ones and widening the court to account for it.

Barthlome has mentored projects for the last few years.  Last year, one senior wanted to know what was involved in city operations, so she and Riley Crookston took him around to show him exactly that.  The senior projects will all be presented and graded this week on Thursday at the high school, including Tessica’s. 

The first games were played on the redone court Saturday morning.

“I would always come over here with friends wanting to play, and it wasn’t fun on my feet—there were so many weeds and everything.  And I thought, ‘this would be a great senior project!’  I saw that there was a senior project bench in the park, and I decided ‘I’m just going to fix the court up, why not?”

“My dad is a farmer, so I have tons of equipment I can use, and there was tons of sand around, so I thought, ‘heck, I’m doing it.’”

The sand came from Hank Carpenter from Thatcher, who hauled in the loads.  Tessica explained the process of putting in the new poles, the net, and painting.  “We spray painted with primer and a couple coats of that red paint, and it’s pretty solid now.”

Tessica played volleyball all four of her high school years at GHS.  “I love volleyball, so I was like—I get to play here longer!"

She will be making a college visit to Lane Community College in Eugene for basketball.  She is considering that as one option, and an LDS mission as another.

Her family, along with friends from the school, joined her at the City Park early on Saturday under a light rain.  

Jorgensen Farms, Rigby Plumbing and Heating, Raising Canes, Chick-fil-A, Bailey’s Market, Zupas, Helena, and Timbermine Steakhouse all provided sponsorship or support of different kinds for the project.