Dixon students get new playground equipment
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DIXON – Amelya Delay, 7, watched patiently as the new playground equipment at the Dixon school was being put together this summer, but the last few hours seemed like forever.
“I had to wait a lot of time,” she said.
Students were finally allowed to play on the finished project on Wednesday afternoon. Amelya said it was worth the wait.
“I think it’s amazing,” she said. “All of this is so cool. There are a lot of slides.”
The giant colorful apparatus contains four slides, a wall for children to climb on, bars to swing on and climb through, platforms to stand on and a set of climbing jacks. The small town raised more than $40,000 to pay for the equipment in one year with fundraisers and grants. And, they saved money by putting the equipment together themselves, although they did hire an inspector to make sure everything was up to code.
“We were out here shoveling, carrying slides and screwing things together,” said Bethany White, 21st Century Grant Coordinator. “The community helped a lot. We could have paid someone to do it, but it costs about $6,000.”
The school received a few big grants to fund the projct including $15,000 from Dr. Pepper Snapple Group-KaBoom, $15,000 from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation and $5,055 from the Lower Flathead Valley Community Foundation. Blackfoot Telephone contributed a cash donation of $5,250, and Roseburg Forest Products donated a semi load of wood chips.
“We had a long list of people that donated including many smaller donations,” Dixon District Clerk Charlotte Morigeau said. “We appreciate all of them.”
Students pitched in right down to the last penny with a penny drive, and community members ran in the Bison Stampede to help raise money for the project.
“We couldn’t have done this without community support,” Morigeau said.
Crista Anderson recently started her new position as the principal of the school.
“I’m so proud of the staff for making this idea happen,” she said. “This is about building a strong community and valuing the culture of learning. And this is important because so much can be taught through play.”
Anderson monitored students on the new playground. She said she explained the rules and procedures before letting students on the equipment. The biggest rule is to be safe, but one traditional rule is off the list.
“It’s usually a rule that you can’t go up the slide,” she said. “But we have a slide made for climbing up. As long as no one is coming down, they can go up.”
Before she was the principal, Anderson was a curriculum leader and instructional coach in Missoula. She wanted to become a principal, but she was waiting for the right school.
“Finding a community like Dixon is like winning a prize,” she said. “What they’ve done with the playground shows what a great community this is.”
