The playground at Central Grade School got a facelift with another dose of new equipment this fall thanks to years of dedicated fundraising and a generous grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
Members of the tribe, school officials, parents, community members and students gathered Monday at noon to welcome the new swing set and structures. After a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting, an enthusiastic swarm of students romped onto the new equipment, which is situated on the southeast side of the school property along Eighth Street.
The school serves approximately 800 students in regular, special education, Talented and Gifted and Montessori programs, all of whom keep the modest-sized play areas busy during the academic year. With wheelchair accessible ground covering underneath the new structures, a wheelchair accessible swing and a challenge course, the playground is ready for the 21st Century.
"What was here was over there when I went to school here,” said Jeana O'Kane, parent coordinator for the playground project and a Central Grade alumna. "One piece I broke my arm on in 1974.”
The multi-year effort over nearly a decade to improve and modernize the school's playground has been completed in pieces as fundraising reached incremental goals. After this fall's major upgrade, the campaign will take a break for a while after years of walk-a-thons, spaghetti dinners, basketball games and cookbook sales — to name some of the project's endeavors.
Fundraising efforts drew in the larger surrounding community, testimony to the school's reach among even those who no longer have or never had students there.
"People still want to see this maintained as a viable school and playground,” said Brian Klauer, principal of the district's Montessori that is housed at Central Grade School.
A Grand Traverse Band 2 percent gaming award of $35,000 provided a huge boost to this latest effort, allowing the new equipment to be installed this fall. Tribal councilor Derek Bailey, secretary of the executive council, noted that the Band tries to focus one of their grant cycles on education in the community.
"On behalf of the tribal chairman and council and membership we are pleased to be a part of assisting schools and districts in meeting the educational needs of the students,” he said.
Acknowledging that the project was near to his heart as his oldest son, Nimkees Bailey, attended school here, Derek Bailey said the Grand Traverse Band also evaluated the school's history in the community, both in terms of students and community standing. The long and far-reaching impact of the historic building was evident.
"Some of the people who are here dancing with us, the older ones, they went to high school here,” added Bailey of members of the Medicine Lodge singers who performed during the dedication ceremony and also gave two concerts for students Monday.
Aptly named, Central Grade School's location in the heart of downtown Traverse City gives the school and its playground a regional draw. Besides heavy student use during the school day, visitors year round include people from around town, tourists, grandparents whose children may be long gone and other neighborhood residents.
"Central is not only a playground, it's a community park,” said O'Kane. "This school is a microcosm for me of our city: when people come here for the Cherry Festival this is the heart of the city.”
Klauer noted that the modern equipment just installed — which was chosen with input from the students at O'Kane's initiative — is intended to build cardiovascular endurance and strength as well as for fun.
"I think that there's a great need for it to be more physically interactive,” he said.