Clean-Up

I wanted to update everyone on how the cleanup went over the past two days before many of the students travel for the holidays and the month wraps up. When April wraps up we are hoping to wrap up some of the fund-raising as well (but this will continue for a soccer field we hope) so that we can get orders placed for our playground equipment!! We now have a blank canvas to work with thanks to the help of LSCE students and students of Lynedoch Primary!
Yesterday, we began by moving shrubs and branches that the Sustainability Institute had placed where we wanted our structures to go. We had to move a lot of stuff back but it got done pretty quickly. Today when we were at Lynedoch almost all of the children had a part in the cleaning up and the area looks great. We were able to tape off the area we want the structures to go into.

After this initial clean up we were able to meet with a woman from the Sustainability Institute to tell her about our plans. The meeting was encouraging and gave the few LSCE students that were able to make it a chance to discuss our ideas with some important role players in the Lynedoch community. Plans were given to her and she is now going to let the community know what we have up our sleeve so that we can all work together to make this playground functional and safe for the children. Below is our ideas in a design. This option is the closest to what we would like to see the entire playground look like in the long run, and the area on the left with the playground structure (has an animal name), the see-saw, and the swings are our goal for the next month!

After the Easter holidays we will talk with the play ground company about structures and continue conversation with the Lynedoch community about our project. We will then begin discussion about which structures we want by giving the community a few different options of what we can do with the money.

As always, we will keep you posted.

Hannah
(Katy is already away on her Easter holiday!)

Breaking Ground!

Thanks to our wonderful donors we have now raised just over $2500! This amount is not entirely reflected on the goal tracker because some donations were not transferable online and had to be given in the form of checks. Since we are well on our way to funding the jungle gym and have received all necessary permissions from the school, we will be breaking ground this Wednesday to clear the area where the playground will be. The clearing process will continue until the end of April and we plan to have the jungle gym installed within the first two weeks of May. As for the sports equipment and athletic fields, after speaking with Headmaster Jansen and Mr. Myburgh (7th Grade Teacher) we learned of the schools plans to petition for state funding for athletic fields and will therefore contribute all of our "Sports Equipment" donations to equipment for sports that can be played on the land as it is now (soccer/rugby balls, jump ropes, sidewalk chalk...). It is also our sentiment that this project should not be exclusive to our LSCE group and rather a project for ours and future classes. This emphasizes sustainable development practices in that one specific need is addressed in a community and met as a result of collaboration between all stakeholders. If we were to focus on the athletic fields in addition to the playground, our resources would be limited and our attention to quality and collaboration diminished. In order to make this development project not only one of experience but of learning and reflection as well, we will be leaving a project journal for the following class so they can learn from our efforts and begin theirs using connections and resources we have already identified in the community. More information on this journal will be available as we reach the close of our project. Thank you.

Best,

Katy