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A quartet of forward-thinking and industrious fifth grade students at Carrsville Elementary School kickstarted a project to build an outdoor basketball court at the school that went from sketch to reality in six months.

John “J.R.” Butler, Nathan Curle, Carter Landes and Alan “A.J.” Newberry, who are progressing on to Georgie Tyler Middle School this fall, were on hand Thursday, Aug. 15, at CES to be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new basketball court.

They were joined by Isle of Wight County School Board members, IWCS Superintendent Dr. Theo Cramer, CES Principal Tara Outland, other administrators, faculty and staff, many parents and fellow students and four representatives of MEB, the construction company that funded and built the court.

Standing at center court during the ceremony, Outland said, “So how did this amazing basketball court come to be? It started in February, which that’s a pretty quick turnaround.”

She received an email from J.R., Nathan, Carter and A.J.

“It was very well written,” she said, “and it was an email that said, ‘Hey, Ms. Outland, we just need a little bit of your time so that we can share about an idea we have for Carrsville,’ and I said, ‘Certainly. Come on up.’ We had lunch. They shared. They had even already done some of the legwork. I guess they kind of knew that it would happen.”

Their idea was to create an outdoor basketball court at Carrsville Elementary.

“And I said, ‘OK, if you want an outside basketball court, you have to do what I would have to do if I wanted something new and improved here at Carrsville,’” Outland said. “I said, ‘You have to fill out a quad chart.’ And they looked at me, and they said, ‘OK, we will.’ So I showed them one that had been completed by myself, and they said, ‘Can we use yours as an example?’”

She said, “Absolutely,” and they proceeded to come up with a rationale for why the school should add a basketball court as opposed to a soccer field, which had also been under consideration. They surveyed their fellow students, researched how much basketball goals cost, provided reasoning for why the court was necessary, highlighting the wellness and recreational opportunities it would provide, and they researched how much money was already present in the school’s account for playground equipment.

“All of that to say, they presented (the project) to me, they got the greenlight, and then I said, ‘Now you have to present it to all of the principals in the county,’” Outland said.

They made their presentation to the principals, coordinators and directors in the county, who decided that the boys should move forward with the project.

Outland noted that the boys even had ideas for fundraising, and they organized a fundraiser in conjunction with the Windsor-based El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant, where their parents had connections.

This June fundraising event raised about $400, which was enough to buy a basketball goal, but the event netted far more than just that.

Eating at the restaurant the night of the fundraiser was Drew Holt, of MEB.

Outland turned the microphone over to Holt at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and he continued the story.

“This did start with a sketch from these kids, these great gentlemen here, and then it turned into a night out, just dinner with my family (at El Rodeo),” he said. “I asked a couple questions, I met Ms. Outland, and we started talking.”

He said he went back and talked with his superiors at MEB, and “they decided, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this thing for you guys. We’re going to build all of this.’ And this is what we do. We build schools. We build buildings all the time. This is something fun for us. Me and my guys here, this team here helped build it. We had a great time doing it.”

The team he was referencing was there at the ceremony and included Dominique Knight, Brendan Silva and Steve Woody.

Holt highlighted Driver Contractors Inc., which he said paved the court as a donation to the school; Harrington Graphics, which provided the school logo at center court; and ARM, which painted the lines on the court.

“The sketch became a reality for these boys,” Holt said, referencing J.R., Nathan, Carter and A.J. “It’s pretty cool — pretty awesome, actually.”

Holt drew attention to four red benches that were positioned around the perimeter of the court, two on each sideline, and then he highlighted the boys again.

“I have four name plates for each of the guys,” he said. “We’re going to let them put their names on each of these benches.”

Cramer said to the boys that long after they are in high school, college and beyond, their basketball court project is something other students will benefit from.

“Please, a thunderous round of applause for these amazingly talented young men,” he said, as the applause quickly followed. “Thank you all so much for the leadership. 

“And I think for all of us who are parents, grandparents, what it says is when you have an idea and when you have leadership who believes in you and gives you an opportunity, you see what can happen,” he added. “And MEB, for you all to listen to our students and our administrators and do all of this on your company’s watch at your expense is extraordinary, so we can’t thank you enough as well.”

Outland mentioned that in Isle of Wight County Schools, teachers and administrators talk about the profile of a graduate, which involves citizenship, collaboration, creative thinking, community and communication.

“That’s what we want our graduates to embrace,” she said. “Guess what? These four gentlemen embrace the profile of a graduate at fifth grade. That means those of us who are at retirement … we have a great future to lead us with the leadership skills seen.”

Then each of the four boys took the mic to share their thoughts.

“I just really wanted to thank MEB so much for making this even being possible,” A.J. said. “It has been so very important to this project. … I can’t really believe I’m standing on this (court) right now thanks to MEB.”

Nathan said, “Yeah, kind of what A.J. said, it’s just amazing how one email turned into all of this. It’s just so amazing, and we’d like to give a very nice ‘thank you’ to all of the MEB for helping us. It’s just been an amazing journey.”

J.R. said, “I wanted to thank MEB for letting us come here and help them build this court and sponsoring us.”

And Carter said, “I want to thank MEB for making our dream come true, and we really appreciate it. Thank you.”

A basketball game followed the ribbon-cutting ceremony to christen the new court.