Schools
Blossom Hill Elementary Adds Historic Art to Campus
Fourth-grade students, parents and teachers collaborate to purchase El Camino Real Mission Bell for campus courtyard.
Blossom Hill Elementary School fourth-graders are borrowing a page from California history and installing it onto campus.
Led by strong fundraising efforts of the Blossom Hill Home and School Club, the students are getting ready to unveil the 10-foot El Camino Mission Bell in the school's front courtyard. No date has been set yet for the official unveiling of the project.
The bell, made up of all cast iron, is the exact size of the mission bells that currently line the historic El Camino Real route from San Diego up to Sonoma and can be seen on the same road in the local cities of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.
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According to Blossom Hill Elementary fourth-grade teacher Linda Roshinski, the class became interested in putting a mission bell on campus after students learned about gold mining and California history in their social studies curriculum.
Roshinski said that the replica symbolizes an important era of California’s growth and is still amazed that the purchase has become a reality.
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“We decided that the bell is a part of California’s history, and the kids are so excited to have a part of California history on campus,” Roshinski said. “We didn’t think it would be possible, we know how we could buy a bell that is the same as the ones that sit on El Camino.”
The bell was purchased through the California Bell Company on March 12 for a little over $2,000. One-hundred percent of the funds used to purchase it came from fundraising.
The school’s Home and School Club President Julie Sheehan said that the effort was well worth the trouble and the new piece of art will enhance the beauty of the campus.
“I love that we have a lovely campus, and this piece of art makes kids appreciate living in California,” Sheehan said. “It makes the school a better place.”
As of early afternoon Thursday, maintenance workers at the school had put the pole that will hold the bell into cement, according to school officials.
The 600-mile El Camino trail was traveled by Padre Junipero Serra and his missionaries who set up missions and presidios from San Diego up to Sonoma in the late 1700s. The California Bell company started making replicas and placing them along the route in 1906 to commemorate the trail.
