Working with the 394 students at M.V. Leckie Elementary School in Washington DC in 2002-2003, The Washington Architectural Foundation created a special legacy and learning experience for the children. The school lost a student, teacher, and two parents in the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attack at the Pentagon.
Responding to these tragedies in a productive, meaningful way, 40 Foundation volunteers worked with students in grades pre-K – 6 to develop a memorial at the school. Volunteers visited assigned classrooms every month, leading studies of Washington DC’s memorials and monuments—their meaning, history, and design. Working together, volunteers and Leckie students designed and built a garden memorial to celebrate the lives of their lost friends, families, and colleagues.
On April 23rd,2003 the entire student body put their handprints into the just-poured cement borders of the garden path, highlighting their role in the garden memorial. On May 2nd, all the students and volunteers spent the day planting 2,695 plants, shrubs, and trees. The fence surrounding the garden is complete and memorial plaques are placed. The garden memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2003.
The Memorial is built thanks to the help of Grunley-Walsh Joint Venture; Johnson's Florist and Garden Centers; The Shockey Companies; Mr and Mrs. Len Turner; Phillip G. Yates; James and Kay Davis; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca; Tracy Meeks Jacob; Eddie and Harriett Meeks; Ronald O'Rourke and Mary Fitch; Ruppert I. P. McCave; Mary Katherine Lanzillotta, AIA; and the Rotary Foundation of Washington DC.