Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Build Day playground

In one day, the playground at the county's oldest school site is transformed into a showpiece.

By JANE MADDEN WELCH
Published December 13, 2005

CLEARWATER - In the same amount of time that Barbara Newman spends teaching on a typical school day, more than 300 volunteers transformed her school's playground from drab to fab.

In a joint effort organized by KaBOOM!, a Build Day was held at South Ward Elementary on Dec. 3 to upgrade the playground area at the oldest school building in Pinellas County.

Volunteers spread 175 cubic yards of mulch and mixed three pallets of concrete. They built eight planter benches, set up an outdoor classroom and a butterfly garden.

The formerly nondescript blacktop surface was revitalized with bright paint creating hopscotch, four-square and a large map of the United States.

New playground equipment was installed in colors chosen by students - spiral slides, a rock climbing wall and monkey bars in purple, yellow and green.

The whole project was spearheaded by Meghan Fugate, a former South Ward student.

Fugate, 24, is a project manager for KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that has brought together business and community interests to construct nearly 1,000 playgrounds and skate parks since 1995.

Fugate has been project manager for 20 playgrounds nationwide, but South Ward was particularly dear to her heart. She attended South Ward starting in kindergarten, and Newman was her teacher in fourth and fifth grade.

A graduate of Lakewood High in St. Petersburg and Boston University, Fugate grew up in Belleair. She now lives in Washington, D.C., where KaBOOM! is based.

The main business sponsor for South Ward's Build Day was C.A. (formerly Computer Associates), with headquarters in New York and an office in Tampa. This was the 61st playground project C.A. has been involved with since 2000.

"We look for areas in need," said Jim Tedesco, vice president of sales for C.A. in Tampa. He was also the leader of the 98 C.A. volunteers who showed up Saturday.

"This is something C.A. tries to do to invest back into the community where we work and live," Tedesco said. C.A. donated more than $50,000 for the project.

South Ward principal Randall Rozelle called the effort "an absolute blessing."

"We could never afford this playground on our own," Rozelle said.

The school, with the help of the PTA, raised $10,000 of its own for the project.

In September, Fugate met with South Ward student council members to get their input on the design of the playground, selecting equipment and choosing colors.

"The kids are excited," Rozelle said. "They helped design the vision."

The school is using Build Day to kick off their centennial celebration. The front school building at 610 S Fort Harrison Ave. was built in 1906 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Newman has been teaching at South Ward since 1983. She estimated the old playground equipment, hauled away in November, was at least 30 years old.

"When I was a child at Azalea Elementary, I remember the playground equipment I played on looked just like what was out here," she said.

Newman was in charge of registration on Build Day, which began at 8 a.m. She was so busy during the first few hours, she didn't have a chance to watch the playground transformation in progress.

"When I did the first walk around and saw what they created, I honestly started crying," Newman said. "It's so exciting to see this energy. It just touches my heart."

Tech Data Corp. of Clearwater volunteered for Build Day, bringing in 76 volunteers. Tracy Beyer, senior product manager in software, served as liaison between the three companies.

"It's amazing to see," she said, surveying the finished playground, which was completed an hour ahead of schedule. "Nothing was here this morning, just a flat, blank lot."

South Ward fourth-grader Noemi Gonzalez, 9, said she uses the playground every day. "It looks very pretty now," she said.

Noemi and her mother helped make decorative stepping stones for the outdoor classroom.

Third-grader Dylan Nixon, 8, and his mother were also on hand to help. He said he is most excited about the rock climbing wall.

"They did hard work for us because it's been a hundred years for that old playground," Dylan said.

Debbie Fugate, Seminole Elementary teacher and Meghan's mother, was the build captain for a garden mural that was painted on the kindergarten playground wall.

"The first stitches I ever got were from falling off that wall," Meghan Fugate said, pointing to a small scar on her chin.

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 10:19:27]