After raising $6,000 for new furnishings under the Robby Streett Legacy Fund, new tables, chairs and coffee tables went into the Sequim High School library. There for the installation are, from left, Josslyn Streett, Lesae Pfeffer, Annabelle Armstrong, and Linsay Rapelje, SHS librarian. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

After raising $6,000 for new furnishings under the Robby Streett Legacy Fund, new tables, chairs and coffee tables went into the Sequim High School library. There for the installation are, from left, Josslyn Streett, Lesae Pfeffer, Annabelle Armstrong, and Linsay Rapelje, SHS librarian. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Sequim High students furnish library in honor of Robby Streett

SEQUIM — For Robby Streett, a library was a sanctuary filled with imagination and knowledge. His mom Josslyn said he could usually be found one of two places — in the Sequim High School’s Library or the Sequim Library across the street.

Now, thanks to his Sequim High classmates, the 16-year-old who died July 20, 2017, will have a permanent spot in the school library.

With the support of 2018 SHS graduate Annabelle Armstrong, SHS senior-to-be Lesae Pfeffer, and the Class of 2019, students installed three new living room sets including three new couches, three coffee tables and six chairs in the library.

Armstrong and Pfeffer worked as the volunteers behind the Robby Streett Legacy Fund for the last year-and-a-half, raising funds for the project completed June 4.

“They helped turn this horrible tragedy into something that’s positive,” Josslyn Streett said.

Robby, 16, and his father Robert, 52, died after being struck in a head-on collision in Colorado; Josslyn and Robby’s brother Sawyer survived the crash.

Robby would have graduated with the Sequim class on June 7. Organizers held a moment of silence for him and teacher Dana Minard, who died this school year.

Armstrong began researching the idea of doing something for Robby in early 2018.

“I had a friend-of-a-friend die my freshman year and not a lot was said about it, so I wanted to do something that matters,” Armstrong said. “I talked to Lesae [one of Robby’s first friends in Sequim] and she knew Josslyn.”

Josslyn Streett said when the girls approached her, their hope was for fellow students to find healing through grief, too.

“It’s tough to lose a classmate,” she said. “I really identified with that reasoning.”

The girls said they initially looked at doing some work in a science classroom but the needs were too costly. So Pfeffer suggested a couch in the library.

“I thought Robby would like that,” Josslyn Streett said. “And we started thinking we could get one couch, maybe more but with a lot of help we got three living room sets for the library.”

Armstrong and Pfeffer organized several events including a showing of “Ready Player One” — a movie adaptation of Robby’s favorite book — and a block party, a Night at the Museum, car washes, book sale and blood drive. They also set up a GoFundMe account.

The students raised about $6,000 between the events.

Sequim High School librarian Linsay Rapelje said the new living room sets are the library’s first new furnishings, aside from donated and worn pieces from teachers and staff.

She said the plaque, donated by the Class of 2019, will be a good conversation starter and remind students that they matter and are valued.

Joe Marvelle, owner of Port Angeles’ The Warehouse and a Sequim High grad, worked with the SHS students on their vision by recommending the most durable furniture, Pfeffer said. Marvelle even attempted to look for purple and gold couches to match the school colors, she said.

Pfeffer said it’s been an honor to work on the project.

“I think it’s such a big thing,” she said. “I know it’s impacted so many lives.”

Armstrong said she hopes the library project is an example to fellow teens that they shouldn’t bottle in emotions — particularly after a tragedy — but rather to “have an outlet when you’re feeling down.”

Through the past year-and-a-half, Josslyn Streett said feels the project has helped her to heal, too.

“I got to meet some of the people who knew Robby, and I think getting together and getting to know each other and tell stories about him was healing,” she said.

For more information on Sequim High School, 601 N. Sequim Ave., call 360-582-3600.

________

Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

More in News

Peninsula College to continue without budget

Board expects plan in September

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane Ridge on Monday. These tourists from Alaska stopped and photographed the creature from a distance as he slowly ate his meal of wildflowers. The marmot is a rodent in the squirrel family and is unique to Washington state. The hibernating mammal’s burrow is only about 50 feet up the paved path away from the parking lot. The group had just photographed deer at the Ridge. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Olympic marmot

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane… Continue reading

Eighth-graders Saydey Cronin and Madelyn Bower stand by a gazebo they and 58 other students helped to build through their Sequim Middle School Core Plus Instruction industrial arts class. The friends were two of a handful of girls to participate in the building classes. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Middle school students build gazebo for academy

Businesses support project with supplies, flooring and tools

Frank Nicholson and David Martel.
Veterans in Warrior Bike program to pass through Peninsula towns

Community asked to welcome, provide lodging this summer

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County Sheriff Brian King, right, accompanied by Lt. Jim Thompson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police on a leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run on the Olympic Discovery Trail at Port Angeles City Pier. Tuesday’s segment of the run, conducted mostly by area law enforcement agencies, was organized to support Special Olympics Washington and was to culminate with a community celebration at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Carrying the torch

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County… Continue reading

Hopefuls for Olympic Medical Center board debate

Talk focuses on funds, partnership

An encapsulated engineered coupler used to repair a January leak. The leak occurred along a similar welded joint near to the current leak. (City of Port Townsend)
Port Townsend considers emergency repair for pipeline

Temporary fix needs longer-term solution, officials say

Traffic to be stopped for new bridge girders

Work crews for the state Department of Transportation will unload… Continue reading

The Peninsula Crisis Response Team responded with two armored vehicles on Tuesday when a 37-year-old Sequim man barricaded himself in a residence in the 200 block of Village Lane in Sequim. (Clallam County Sheriff’s Office)
Man barricaded with rifle arrested

Suspect had fired shots in direction of deputies, sheriff says

An interior view of the 12-passenger, all-electric hydrofoil ferry before it made a demonstration run on Port Townsend Bay on Saturday. Standing in the aisle is David Tyler, the co-founder and managing director of Artemis Technologies, the designer and builder of the carbon fiber boat. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Demonstration provides glimpse of potential for ferry service

Battery-powered hydrofoil could open water travel

Electronic edition of newspaper set for Thursday holiday

Peninsula Daily News will have an electronic edition only… Continue reading

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her mother, Rachel Shidler of Port Angeles, during Saturday’s Summertide celebration in Webster’s Woods sculpture park at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. The event, which marks the beginning of the summer season, featured food, music, crafts and other activities for youths and adults. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Summertide festival

Juliet Shidler, 6, tries on a flower-adorned headband she made with her… Continue reading