What's the scoop on the new playground at Washington?

Talk about it

Roving reporters Sydney Hall and Montana Solomon, both fifth graders at Washington, got the scoop on the new playground from school staff, volunteers and kids. This is their entire interview, which gets an A-plus from the Pine Journal!

What prompted the need for new playground equipment?

Heather Meyen, PIE co-chair: “We wanted to meet the American Disability Act so that kids with disabilities could come out and play on the playground and also we would have new, safer equipment and the kids are going to have fun because it’s different kinds of equipment.”

What makes the new playground equipment different from the old playground?

Connie Hyde, Washington Principal: “Well, like Heather said, some of the pieces are more free standing and more wheelchair accessible. In fact, one of the swings we’re going to be putting on is for wheelchair accessible kids that can be lifted in and swing. Also, the wood chips will compact to allow kids in wheelchairs to get in there and kids with braces and crutches and things like that. The other pieces for the ambulatory kids, there’s just more to do, more things for them to play on and to do.”

What are some unique features of the new equipment:

Connie Hyde: “The X-factor thing over looks like a caterpillar. The kids can stand or sit on it and it moves. My own children had played on something similar and said it was the most awesome thing! We’ve got 2 new tire swings – the tire swings are very popular so we got 2 more. That line is always really long at recess. The skateboard things – you stand on them and they jiggle. I had never even heard of them! My kids said they were really cool, too! And then there’s this thing here that 2 people can walk on it together. We have a thing I call it the Spiderman web, but my son said don’t call it that. It’s a net thing like the one at Churchill. I don’t know what it’s called – it’s a giant net thing. Then we have a tri legged thing over here called the fusion and it’s a combination of a climbing – there’s 3 climbing walls on it, there’s these pogo-stick things that you jump on, and there’s spinny things that are on it, too. So, like I said, there’s a lot of new pieces for kids to go on. We did move the swings, too, because that was a safety issue with kids walking by. I didn’t realize that kids had to run by when people were swinging so they didn’t get hit! It was really close to where kids were walking. So, when the safety guy came to check, he said we had to move them.”

How long has Washingotn PIE been raising money for the playground?

Bridget Schrier, Playground Initiator: “I think maybe 3 years they have been raising money for it.”

What types of fundraisers did PIE do?

Bridget Schrier, Playground Initiator:

“Well, they do Pennies for the Playground, Lumberjack Laps, Fall Fundraisers, and all kinds of things I guess.”

Was there funding provided from anywhere else?

“We have had lots of help with our playground project this year. 3D construction has helped with a lot of our landscaping and preparations. The City of Cloquet has helped us out a lot with hauling rocks and sand and helping us move dirt and things. And we’ve had help from a lot of restaurants in town who are helping us with food. Pizza Hut and Perkins and Subway and let’s see. A lot of parents of students and teachers and citizens of Cloquet. We’ve had a lot of donations. Sappi has given, Boldt Construction has given us money. This has been a really great community project. “

What kinds of things were donated for the event and who donated it?

Bridget Schrier: “Pizza Hut donated the pizza we had for lunch Friday. Subway donated the sandwiches we had for lunch on Thursday. ?Brenny? Dahl has given us quite a cost break on the cement and things we had poured yesterday(Friday) for getting our structures in the ground. We have had SO many things donated, I am trying to remember them all! Arbys donated some lunches for our construction crew. L & M donated water. Our superintendent has offered to pay some of our janitors overtime to work with us so we have a lot of skilled workers here to help put this playground together. I don’t think we would have been able to have done any of this without all of this help!”

Who is building the playground? How many volunteers have been a part of it so far?

Bridget: “Well, the planning of the playground was done by Dave Owens who is from Excent(sp?) Inc. They are the playground manufacturing company. They are here in MN. They did all the planning where everything was going to be on our site. Now we have Jason here, who is the guy in the yellow hat. Jason is our project supervisor. He has built lots of playgrounds around MN. His job is to organize all of us workers and everyone who is here into getting everything together and coordinated with the cement trucks and other equipment to get everything done. “

How long will the installation process take?

Bridget Schrier, Playground Initiator: “We started with bulldozers here on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. We started putting equipment together on Friday. So we have Friday and Saturday for putting equipment together. Sunday should just be making the spot cleaned up and spreading all the wood chips for the safety part of our playground. About 6 days.”

Who was in charge of research and planning of this project?

Bridget Schrier, Playground Initiator: “The PIE group has been a really big part of deciding what we put out here, but in the planning part of the project, we have had our playground supervisors, the ladies who are out here when you are at recess. Our jantitors, our PE teachers, parents principal, myself have all been a part of coming up with just the right kind of things. Like the fusion thing right here – we had a lot of input from kids and everybody about what parts we wanted in there.”

Is there anything else you would like the community to know?

Bridget Schrier, Playground Initiator: “That we are really excited to offer not just our school but the community a really nice place for all of our kids to play. When we’re done with this playground, it’s gonna look beautiful and it’s going to be a much safer place and much more handicap accessible palce than we’ve been in the past. This is an exciting thing for our community and our school.”

What part of the new playground do you think will be the biggest attraction for the kids?

Montana Solomon, Roving Reporter: “Well, I think either the X Factor – it like moves around and there are can be so many different kids on it at one time. And I think the Fusion – that’s like a net thing you can climb up. It towers over every human, I guess you could say that.”

What looks the coolest? Why?

“I think so far what looks the coolest is the new accessible swingset because that is the only thing all put together so far. The X-Factor looks cool, too.”

What part of the new playground do you think will be the biggest attraction for the kids?

Sydney Hall, Roving Reporter: “I think that the whole swing process over there will be a huge attraction because it has the whole rocket thing that is sort of like a teeter totter. One person is on each side and it’s smaller. It’s kind of triangular. While one person is rocking down, the other is rocking up. It is very fun. I also think the the X-wave will be a huge attraction.”

Montana adds: “The thing about the rocket? If someone jumps off, you won’t fall back.”

What looks the coolest? Why?

Sydney Hall:

“I think that the net that is more towards the swing will look very cool because it looks like a bunch of ropes and it sort of looks like there’s little nests and there’s a bunch of seats and everything. It’s going to be very high.”

Is there anything else you’d like the community to know?

Sydney Hall:

“Yes. In the back more towards the track where the swing set is, I think it will be great because there are swings where people who have disabilities or maybe have a wheelchair will be able to be lifted into that swing and still be able to swing and not fall. I also think that the woods chips will be leveled. So it will be impossible to trip. It will also be easier for people with disabilities to be able to get across the land smoother. Last year they had lots of rocks and it was so bumpy. I think the wood chips will make a big difference.”

Montana adds:

“You don’t really know it, but underneath the playground, there is a drainage tube. That helps it so if it rains or when the snow melts, it doesn’t stay there. It sucks ito the drainage pipe and comes out by the soccer field. You can’t see it because it’s all underground. It will also help the soccer field grow. Lots of kids run on it and it rips out all the grass in that area.”

Sydney & Montana explain how the drainage system works:

“One of the construction workers explained showed us the process of the underground drainage. Where all the swings and teeter-totters and riders are, there is an underground drainage pipe. When it’s raining or when there’s snow that forms into ice, the drainage pipe will bring all of that water and drop it off in the field. Also, there is a drainage pipe that is in between the 2 older pieces of playground equipment. Where the sidewalk is, it starts there. Again, the water goes into towards sidewalk and street.”

What part of the new playground do you think will be the biggest attraction for the kids?

Hannah Durfee, student: “I think the tire swing will be the big attraction and the rock climbing, honestly.”

What looks the coolest and why?

Hannah Durfee, student: “The rock climbing, actually, because it looks really tall. It looks like y