As a young man, Jason Arnott, Owner of Earth Environments in Romeo, MI, daydreamed of building and making things better. He started off with sketching a drawing of a house which his parents later built for their family home. Graduating from Lawrence Tech University, Jason has since been using his architectural knowledge to design, create, and preserve all over Michigan. He and his employees have lived amongst the rural backdrop of the Romeo community area, attending the local schools, and staying to raise their families amongst the historic homes and village.
One Room Schoolhouse Monument
Background on Jason Arnott
One Room Schoolhouse Educational Monument
We are asking for your help in fund-raising for a monument near a local, one-room schoolhouse located in Washington Township. The Thorington school house was built in the 1840’s and is still standing today as a relic from the past. Jason would like to remember and honor our roots in this community, and its development in the past and future, by designing and erecting a monument at its site acknowledging our local teachers, mentors, tutors, counselors, instructors and advisers as a tribute to education. In addition, Jason would like to develop a cultural and historic landmark to further include the development of a school.
The funding will include design, materials, labor, construction and placement costs for the monument. This marker would be looked at as a focal element and a destination in the spirit of education, culture, and history representing the roots of communities, farms, orchards, and early settlements.
Future Vision
To carry on the tradition of this area, Jason is working on designing a local school for further education, with dormitories for students to live on site (see Project School). As well as overseeing the project, he envisions teaching art, living sciences, architecture, gardening, landscaping, preservation and entrepreneurship at the school as well. Graduating students will receive a certificate of accomplishment. His dream is to have the school accessible to underprivileged youths through a scholarship program. His school would be able to boost people by giving them access to the facility and its tools and machinery for projects over the weekends. The community would have access to these tools and would 'borrow' them, much like a book from the library, or attend a workshop to learn a new skill.
Preservation has always been a part of Jason’s world, and you can see his historic preservation project on the corner of Almont, MI. He helped restore and preserve the downtown Almont Museum.
Many people moved to the Romeo area when a Branch of the University of Michigan was built, because education was significant to them. Please help us in our endeavors to educate, preserve, and restore what is important. Education is very important to our area and is paramount to living a successful life. Your contribution can help keep it that way!
Financial Donations and Creative Ideas
The one room schoolhouse monument is a community-based initiative, meaning we want this monument to serve the community. The monument is meant to honor and bring tribute to prior ways of life, living standards and challenges of early pioneers to help our present community have an appreciation for the educators that came before us. Please contact us and let us know what ideas you may have. Send us your ideas here.
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