Library punch
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Over 20 years ago, the Barkley Bridge Elemen tary School PTO pub lished a cookbook that featured recipes from its faculty, staff, students, and parents. Barkley Bridge is not the only school to have published such a cookbook as a fundraiser. I believe each of Hartselle’s schools has published one at one time or another.
But, as I was leafing through my collection of cookbooks in search of holiday recipes, it was in the pages of the Barkley Bridge Cookbook that I found Mr. Ed Land’s recipe for Library Punch.
Those who know Land know that he has a wry sense of humor, so even at the time he submitted the recipe for Library Punch, he was well aware that it was a glaringly simple recipe that needed no explanation. The recipe made me laugh.
Library Punch ½ gallon sherbet 3 liters ginger ale May use any flavor sherbet.
May use lemon-lime cola instead of ginger ale.
Put sherbet in punch bowl. Pour cold ginger ale over sherbet. Mix a little. Serve.
After the laugh, the recipe made me think. I considered each of Hartselle’s schools and the teachers and staff who give so much of themselves to the students who walk the halls and to their fellow staff members. The library is the heart of the school, and it’s at the heart of most every story a teacher might have to tell about meetings in which they heard wonderful news, meetings in which they heard uneasy news, and meetings in which they learned and developed their skills.
Library Punch, or its schoolspecific equivalent, is served when the school family marks milestone birthdays, celebrates engagements, and welcomes new babies. The library is the space in which schools embrace new employees and tearfully say goodbyes to those who retire or move on.
Cindy Depreast and Sandra Armistead did much of the planning at BBES. Lane Hampton played a role in her years at Crestline Elementary. Hartselle High School rarely celebrated anything without Dianne Griffith’s cheese straws on the table. Every school had and has those who are the heartbeat of these celebrations of passing days.
Teacher parties and gatherings likely seem to hold an inconsequential place in the marking of Hartselle City Schools’ 50 years, but these shared moments in the heart of the school build a team. These teams of teachers learn to share instructional ideas and strategies. They learn to rely on each other in their trek toward common school and district goals.
It is in these school libraries that productive cultures are born and nurtured. Revered teachers pass the torch, and nervous but willing teachers take the torch to continue the traditions born before their arrival.
No school district can mark 50 successful years because its flow charts are in order. It’s people who determine the course of an organization. Hartselle City Schools has had good ones. Their life’s work has packed quite the punch.
