Woodbridge Key Club Renovates Memorial Garden
by Leon Red
Shortly after the January 2009 auto accident that killed Woodbridge HS student Shelby Nicholson and seriously injured Natalie Baird, the Woodbridge HS Key Club took on a major project to renovate the school's Memorial Garden in Shelby's memory. The club gained the Nicholson family and school leadership's support for the project and organized a number of efforts. Dwayne Thorpe, a local landscaper, volunteered a major cleanup of the garden, including removing overgrown and unhealthy plants, mulching and edging the garden, and planting new annuals and a maple tree (named the "Fiasco tree" in honor of the fashion line Shelby had planned to establish). The Key Club ordered a stone to identify the garden as the "Woodbridge High School Memorial Garden" and another in Shelby's honor. Shelby's family repaired two benches that had fallen into disrepair and bought a new bench in Shelby's memory.
The Key Club hosted a dedication ceremony on April 22nd, which would have been Shelby's 17th birthday. The ceremony was attended by about 150 Woodbridge students and teachers plus relatives and friends of Shelby's. Key Club vice president Alexandra Homegardner, who was a friend of Shelby and the original advocate for the garden project, led the ceremony. After welcoming the crowd and thanking the Nicholson family and Mr. Thorpe, she made a few remarks about Shelby and called on other friends to speak. Other speakers included David Huckestein, principal of Woodbridge High School, and Jeremy Nottingham, Shawna Thorpe, and Natalie Baird, friends of Shelby. Most of her friends said how much they missed her and felt her presence every day. Mr. Huckestein said that in all his years as a school administrator, Shelby's death had been the hardest thing he had to deal with. But he observed that the support from the entire Woodbridge community had made it somewhat easier to deal with the tragedy. He also commented that the entire school would benefit from the newly renovated garden.
At the end of the ceremony, the guests sang Happy Birthday to Shelby and released balloons.
The point of contact is Leon Reed, Key Club advisor, at reedls@pwcs.edu.
