Maine Middle Schoolers Make it Happen

Website

https://sites.google.com/a/aos93.org/great-salt-bay-community-school/

So you’re going to improve your local playground. What’s your great idea?

Great Salt Bay Community School will have a new playground by June 2013. Our great idea is to get our students involved in the community build process by offering a program that teaches middle school students basic design, carpentry and safety skills for a job site. Students will then work alongside parents and community members to raise our playground in June. This is a win-win situation. By getting middle school students involved, we promote a "we own it" attitude, protecting our playground from vandalism and grafitti. We also will broaden our volunteer base and middle schoolers interested in vocational school will enter high school with on-the-job training. Help us put our kids to work! Thanks for your support.

Which local nonprofit, school, or park district will you work with, and how will you work with them to choose a playground for the project?

The Parent Teacher Organization will work closely with Great Salt Bay Community School’s administration, staff, students and parents. On September 28th, the GSB PTO will team with Learning Structures, Inc. to host a full day of brainstorming and planning. A professional designer will take this community input and then weave it into a custom design for our school.

How will you involve local volunteers in the playground project?

Parents are already working this summer to build the foundation for the project over the next school year. We have developed a committee of 5 teams to support the project: finance, human resources, education and outreach, public relations and production. We are developing a website to communicate our meeting schedule and fundraising progress. Volunteers will be raising our playground on many levels. We anticipate 100-150 in total.

Tell us about the kids that will be using the playground.

Great Salt Bay Community School serves 420 students. 40% receive free or reduced lunch. Our local economy is supported by fishing, lobstering, building trades and tourism. Many of our students have multi-generational ties to GSB. Parents at GSB remembering playing on the playground we have now. Our kids are looking forward to an updated and safe playground.

Discussion

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