Kent students share ideas, designs for new playground

Kids are applying vivid imagination and crayons to paper so that their dream playground can go KaBOOM! Students at East Hill Elementary created colorful designs to suggest what their neighborhood playground at Turnkey Park would look like come June.

Great work: East Hill Elementary School Principal Daxa Thomas follows the playground design from Juan Najera

Great work: East Hill Elementary School Principal Daxa Thomas follows the playground design from Juan Najera

Kids are applying vivid imagination and crayons to paper so that their dream playground can go KaBOOM!

Students at East Hill Elementary created colorful designs to suggest what their neighborhood playground at Turnkey Park would look like come June.

It is all part of a community-wide effort to revitalize the playground. The city of Kent Parks, Recreation and Community Services, the Kent Parks Foundation, Disney VoluntEARS and organizers from KaBOOM! – coordinators of the park project – hosted the design party at the school last Friday.

KaBOOM! Project Manager Katrina Hill arrived from Washington, D.C., to lead the students in dance and inspire their designs.

Kids quickly put their vision to crayon-etched blueprints. Some drew basketball courts and slides, others a pond and rock climbing wall.

“It’s wonderful to see the community pull together to help build a fun and safe place for our children to play, and I love that the children will have a hand in designing the playground,” said Daxa Thomas, principal at East Hill Elementary.

Elements from the children’s drawings will be incorporated into the final design for the new community playground to be built on June 7 at Turnkey Park, 23312 100th Ave. SE. Design day was the first meeting of the playground planning committee that will work for the next 10 weeks to plan and prepare for the construction of the new playground.

“We’re grownups. We don’t know what kids want,” said Victoria Andrews, special programs manager for Kent Parks. “We want this to be their park. … If they design it, they will help take care of it.”

The city is working with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to saving play for America’s children. Its mission is to create great play spaces through the participation and leadership of communities. Ultimately, it envisions a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

The agency helped build a new playground in 2011 at Tudor Square Park in Kent.

The new playground is one of dozens made possible with support from Disney to encourage kids to lead healthier lifestyles and provide more than 1,300 children in Kent with a safe place to play. The current playground equipment at Turnkey Park is outdated and in need of replacement.

Disney will provide a donation that’s equivalent to the playground equipment at the park, Andrews said. The city plans to match an $8,500 KaBOOM! grant for the playground build.

Disney, the project’s corporate partner, plans to provide 75 volunteers to help with the park build on June 7.

A new, enlarged play space will be created by 200 volunteers with help from the project’s community partners.

=====

PHOTO BELOW: KaBOOM! Project Manager Katrina Hill leads students in dance at the design-your- neighborhood-playground party. Mark Klaas, Kent Reporter





Talk to us

Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.

To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.

More in News

t
Kent’s Lower Russell Levee project receives John Spellman Award

City, King County Flood District and other partners recognized for historic preservation

Northwood Middle School, 17007 SE 184th St., in unincorporated part of King County in Renton and part of the Kent School District. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent School District
Calls about man trying to access Northwood Middle School causes lockdown

Deputies arrest man for investigation of resisting arrest, obstruction at Kent School District property

T
Orwall replaces Keiser as 33rd Legislative District senator

Moves from House to Senate to fill seat of retiring Keiser; district includes part of Kent

t
Driver in Kent suffers minor injuries after crashing into pole

Single-car crash Wednesday morning, Dec. 11 in 8600 block of South 228th Street

t
Fifty children participate in 11th annual Kent Police Shop with a Cop

Officers pair up with children to buy gifts at Target from community donations

File Photo
Kent Police arrest man for reportedly texting a child to meet for sex

Police say incident a cautionary story for anyone with children; offer online/cellphone safety advice

Courtesy Photo, Washington State Patrol
State Patrol arrests Federal Way man in fatal Kent crash on I-5 | Update

Victim identified; driver faces vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and DUI charges in Dec. 8 collision

t
Man, 27, fatally shot at Kent bar parking lot identified | Update

Died of multiple gunshot wounds early Sunday morning, Dec. 8 at Cloud 9 Bar

U.S. District Courthouse in Seattle. COURTESY PHOTO, U.S. Dept. of Justice
Judge sentences Kent man to 3 years in prison for gun violations

Dion Cooper, 33, illegally bought and trafficked more than 130 firearms

Kentwood High School in Covington. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent School District
Reports of ‘threats with a gun’ causes Kentwood High lockdown

Subject detained Friday afternoon, Dec. 6; no weapon found

t
Dr. Mueller retires as manager of Regional Animal Services of King County

Worked 12 years leading agency that contracts with 24 cities, including Kent

t
King County to build animal shelter at new site; Kent facility to close

Search for property continues; timeline to be determined; $19.5 million approved for project