3-2-1 Blast Off by Kim Evans

In May 2007-2008, a team of teachers sat down to dream about a new playground. The original playground built 20 years ago by fathers of children attending Highroad Academy was no longer meeting the needs of our growing population. The playground committee poured over pictures in playground magazines and chose colourful and innovative pieces for our dream playground. Without a time line or knowledge of cost, the committee dreamed big and chose playground pieces that would take our playground to a new level.

The office staff at Highroad Academy took on the challenge of fund raising with gusto planning intriguing events that interested staff, parents, students and members of our community. Our fundraising has included events such as a silent auction and Italian dinner, golf tournament and a Jazz café. These events not only raised money towards our playground, but were a ton fun serving to bring our staff and parent community closer together. I am proud to report that to date we have raised $104,206.41.

Our next fundraising project called the Amazing GRace will take place on May 9th, 2009 and will feature teams comprised of staff, students and HRA parents who will be competing for prizes and bragging rights in challenges patterned after the Amazing Race. This may be our most successful fundraiser yet!

We have now purchased and installed two of the four new pieces of playground equipment that we were only dreaming about this time last year. The first piece that we purchased called the Evos is a large and colourful ground level play structure that is built to pique the interest of students Kindergarten age and up. It has been a huge hit since the moment of its installation. Our newest piece called the Space Net was just installed this winter and is eighteen feet tall and just as wide. It is always full of energetic children climbing, swinging and doing flips.

Stay tuned for news of our next playground purchase in the 2009 – 2010 school year. If you have not yet had the opportunity to visit the beginning of our new playground, it is well worth the visit! If you wish to make a donation towards the completion of Highroad Academy’s playground, call the office at 792-4680.

46641 CHILLIWACK CENTRAL RD, CHILLIWACK BC V2P 1K3 Ph: 604.792.4680 Fax: 604.792.2465 ⓒ HRA