Saugus Union School District and Skyblue Mesa Elementary School officials honored one of their own in dedicating a corner of the new library at Skyblue Mesa to former student Dominic Blackwell.
The library, which includes a science flex lab and some classrooms, opened earlier this semester, and the district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month for students and parents to become acquainted with the space.
Rows of books line one side of the library, with reading spaces all across the middle of the room. In one corner, a cutout of SpongeBob SquarePants is placed on the wall, with the words “Blackwell Corner” below. On the bookshelf below that is a display of Nickelodeon books, including SpongeBob, which Skyblue Principal Misty Covington said was Blackwell’s favorite TV show.
Blackwell was one of two killed by a fellow student in the Saugus High School shooting in 2019 that also left three others injured before the shooter took his own life.
“This library is more than just a collection of books,” Covington said, adding that Blackwell was the “prime example of kindness.”
The ceremony was attended by Superintendent Colleen Hawkins, Nick Heinlein, assistant superintendent of business services, and governing board members Katherine Cooper and Chris Trunkey.
“I’m very happy to be here to finally dedicate this beautiful library space,” Trunkey said. “Obviously, the building has been open for a while, but we wanted to make sure that everything about the library was complete and up to the dream that we have had for this library. I’m very happy for the Blackwell family to finally see the Blackwell Corner in the library that will hopefully inspire thousands of our students in the decades to come to be great readers and to be outstanding students.”
Hawkins echoed Trunkey’s words and had to pause a couple of times as she talked about the Blackwell Corner.
“I do think that the library, once you go inside, is the heart of this building and where it’s positioned in the school is the heart of the school,” Hawkins said. “We know that Dominic Blackwell had a huge heart and we hope that by dedicating this space to him, it will keep that heart remembered, memorialized in a way that honors Dominic and honors his family.”
The library was paid for using Measure EE funds. Taxpayers in the district approved a $148 million bond to improve district facilities in 2014, which has led to a new two-story building recently opening at Charles Helmers Elementary and a groundbreaking for a similar building recently being held at James Foster Elementary.
“Thank you to so many people and their collaborative efforts for putting all the work in to make this building happen,” Covington said.
