By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–‘Play time’ has been taken up a notch for Union City Elementary School students.
The completion of a new playground on the UCES campus has been met with predictable joy from students who have taken to the new area with great enthusiasm.
“They (students) have been eyeballing the area since we first began work on it,” UCES Principal Allison Palmer smiled. “They were just waiting for the finishing touches and couldn’t wait to get out there to explore and play.”
There are multiple playing options in the new area, including a couple of gaga ball pits. Gaga ball – a game rising in popularity in the last 10 years – is a variant of dodgeball and is played in an eight-foot octagon-shaped area.
Traditional equipment – all in purple and gold – is also part of the new playground.
The project cost in excess of $70,000 and was funded in part by a $25,000 grant awarded to the school’s PTO through Simmons Bank last spring. The school support organization – which funds various wants and needs of UCES faculty and students – also had raised more than $14,000 from an accelerated reader program and other funds coming from the Boosterthon.
UC Schools Maintenance Department personnel and contract labor helped complete the project, doing dirt work and spreading several pallets of rubber pellets that form the safety base of each of the areas.
PTO President Brooke Parks and Emily Billingsly – the latter of whom lent her expertise with grant writing – were also critical players in securing funds for the upgrade.
“It brought a smile to everyone’s face to see how excited the students were,” Palmer concluded. “The anticipation kept building and building with the completion of every phase, and they’ve thoroughly enjoyed their first few days with the new area.
“We’re so blessed with the support of our PTO, the community, and our administration. They all simply find a way to give us what we need and what is best for students.”
Palmer said other playground upgrades are in the works.