April 22, 2020
By JAMES EVANS
Rutherford County Schools
Shanna Groom has been a nurse with Rutherford County Schools since 2012 and now serves as a charge nurse managing a group of school health clinics for the district. She lives in the Stewarts Springs neighborhood on the edge of Murfreesboro and helped organize a neighborhood “Bear Hunt” a few weeks ago, based on the bestselling book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by author Michael Rosen and illustrator Helen Oxenbury.
The neighborhood’s efforts caught the attention of local media and then went national with an online article by Time magazine and a print article by People magazine.
Groom recently talked with the Rutherford County Schools’ communications department about her experience with the project and how it continues to evolve to keep kids and adults alike engaged through learning activities and camaraderie.
QUESTION: Where did you get the idea for doing a neighborhood “Bear Hunt” and how did you organize it?
I had seen it here and there on social media. We have a private Facebook group for our neighborhood and so I posted the idea. Of course, I don’t have any little kids at home, so I posted “Is anyone interested. I have several teddy bears. I already have mine in the window.” And I mean it exploded. The response was immediate.
There was probably 30 messages just on that one post and everyone started putting them out. We left our bears out for a week for one of those first weeks that we were socially distanced. A lot of people put them on their porches. People moved them around each day so they would be in different places each day or they’d put out different animals. That’s how it started. We probably have 200 houses in our neighborhood, and you could probably find a house that had a bear over a house that didn’t have a bear. Even the people who had zero kids, had bears in their windows. It was amazing.
Q: We’ve been under the social distancing guidelines for more than 40 days now? Does the bear hunt continue? How did you keep it interesting?
It’s changed into different activities. The bear hunt, immediately when that was over, we started a scavenger hunt and each neighbor submitted one interesting thing that was on their front yard or perch that you could see from the sidewalk. We had a list of about 50 things that the neighborhood kids could walk around and find. There were no prizes or official winners. It was just, here’s a list of some amazing things, like an Easter Bunny blowing a trumpet. Some put a huge inflatable ladybug in their yard. That went on for several days. After that, we did “Chalk Your Walk” where everybody wrote inspiring message and you could walk around and look for those. We have some amazing artists in our neighborhood. The next thing we’re about to do is driveway dining where we will have food trucks and you take your nice china and tablecloths outside and you get dressed up and eat with your neighbors. Of course, they’re in their driveway and you’re in your driveway. You just have to have something to look forward to and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re also going to have a senior recognition where the seniors drive around in a parade. It’s just almost like idea jumping … It’s like a springboard for new ideas.
Q: How did you get the attention of Time and People magazines.
It was originally in the DNJ … It went to other newspapers across the country. People were able to look me up on on Facebook and send me messages. I got a message from Time magazine first and asked if I would be willing to answer a few questions. They wanted to do a feature article. Right after that, People magazine wanted to do one. They were actually doing a print magazine and so it was a little more involved. So we had to submit them some original photos. The instant messages that I’ve gotten from strangers — which is a little scary — asking me, “Tell me how you did that,” “What graphic did you use, “What book is it,” you know just lots of questions. I tried to answer most of them. A lot of neighborhoods wanted to start it too.
Q: One of the bears, the one that is often featured as a photo, is wearing a medical mask and scrubs. What’s the story behind that bear?
My youngest son Garrett — he graduated last year from Stewarts Creek — his last regular season soccer game, he tore his ACL and had to have surgery. So a very sweet neighbor, the day of the surgery, brought that bear over with some snacks and treats. So we had him and when I told my college-aged kids that we were doing this bear hunt, at that point they were still on campus, he was like, “Hey mom, I still have the bear up in my room wearing a surgical mask. You should put that one up in the window.” It was perfect. It became our little mascot. It was the bear that moved around the most. A couple of our neighbors put it in their windows. The neighbor whose daughter is in the picture in People magazine, that was the photo they chose.
Q: What message do you have for Rutherford County students about social distancing and finding ways to stay engaged with learning?
For the younger kids, that’s really what our neighborhood is targeting with these activities, like the bear hunt, if you read the book and then you go around the neighborhood counting bears, then you’ve knocked out reading and math and physical education all in one activity. That’s what parents are looking for, some activities to do that are engaging, education, distracting. I know my nieces and nephews — they’re Rutherford County students — they so look forward to Mondays when their teachers place new activities online. Our teachers are doing an amazing job of trying to keep students engaged. If our neighborhood is trying to do that a little bit too, then that’s wonderful.