News
Day of making a change in community observed countywide
By ANGELA SACHITANO
The Leaf-Chronicle
Walking in the rain and digging through the mud were not the conditions
Rossview Junior ROTC students Jeremy Korenoski and Marquise Dejesus had
envisioned when they decided to spend their Saturday cleaning up Mount
Olive Cemetery, but they accepted the responsibility nonetheless.
"It's out of respect that we are here," Jeremy said. "If I were buried
here, I wouldn't want to have it trashed like this. "None of the more
than 100 students at the cemetery were required to be there — teachers
left it up to the kids to come out on their own as part of "Make A
Difference Day." The old cemetery, which hides behind a quiet
subdivision off Cumberland Road, was bustling : with hundreds of student
volunteers Saturday. JROTC every high classes from every high school in
the county, as well as students in Junior Cilviltan, joined their
parents, teachers and the Mount Olive Cemetery Preservation Society to
bring life to a place that has for years been long forgotten. Truck
loads of trash were collected, grave sites were cleared, and — little by
little — the old resting place was overtaken with energy.
"We're clearing the path, cutting down overgrown trees and trying to let
some light in," Jeremy said. "Yes, it's very hard work."
The cemetery has more than 1,000 graves, some dating back to 1838;
others as recent as 1960. The people buried there were all Clarksville
residents, mostly black men and women and their families, as well as
soldiers who served their country and their community in various wars.
Now it's the community's time to serve them. "I am just so proud of the
schools for being out here," said Cemetery Project Director Geneva Bell,
who was one of the first residents to stumble on the cemetery four years
ago. "We have some good kids in this community. Kids that care about
other people."
"One of my students noticed a tombstone with his own birth date on it,"
said Clarksville High School JROTC instructor Nelton Galloway. "He felt
connected and wants to find out more."
Teachers are hoping Saturday's cleanup will ignite students' curiosity.
Many classes will be researching the genealogy of those buried in the
cemetery. And with the help of another "Make a Difference Day"
effort on the other side of town, some students won't have any problems
doing the research.
With the help of several local civic groups and the city of Clarksville,
Burt Cobb Community Center received six revitalized computers Saturday.
It's the first time children there will have computer access.
The computers are equipped with Microsoft Outlook, Internet access
and printers.
The computers were once used in city offices and were sitting in storage
until Geneva Bell made a phone call and expressed interest in them.
"I knew how bad the kids needed computers," she said. "I asked the city,
'what can you get us?', and they came through." Supporters of the center
and dozens of children from the neighborhood around the center gathered
for the official ribbon-cutting of the new computer lab.
Kenwood High School ninth-grader Malcolm Chase said he's looking forward
to having computer access at his fingertips.
"It's going to be good for us kids to come in here, play a little ball
and then maybe use the computers to get some projects done," he said.
"My own computer gets viruses a lot." The Altrusa
International local civic club donated the printers, a year's worth of
paper and ink.
"Making a difference is about this right here," said Burt Cobb Community
Center Director Clarence Kendrick, pointing to the computer lab. "A lot
of kids will get a chance now to learn things that they wouldn't have
normally
had if it weren't for having a computer."