A few weeks ago, I started my Bachelor of Education placement at Pinecrest Elementary School in Ottawa. Two years ago, grade one students wrote a letter to the principal to persuade her to look at the primary yard and consider their dreams to replace the old play structure. The following September, the same students and all their primary friends were shocked to come back and discover that the condemned play structure and the beloved monkey bars had been removed over the summer and they were left with only sand. It was a very sad day for Pinecrest primary students. Since then, the primary students have had nothing but some wooden “soccer” posts and a giant area of sand.

A large number of Pinecrest families are not able to participate in extracurricular fundraisers, as many of the families live in apartments or public housing surrounding the school. They rely on the safe space at school to play and explore.

When I first heard about this issue, I knew I had to get involved in some way. I worked with the staff at Pinecrest by taking some photos and creating a video that we have submitted for the Aviva Community Fund. This was all in an attempt to receive a grant that we could use to provide these young students with the play yard that they deserve. Here is the video that I created for the submission:

What’s even more incredible is that my video was featured in the Ottawa Metro! Check out the screenshot below:

Unfortunately, Pinecrest Public School was not chosen as one of the finalists for the Aviva Community Fund. However, it was incredible to see the school and the surrounding communities really come together to support this project. We also learned a lot about this grant process and hopefully we can use this knowledge in future submissions so that we can achieve our goal of building a safe and fun playground for the deserving primary students.