farragutpress

New courtyard track-play space at Northshore Elem.

November 6, 2024 by Alan Sloan

With its children all fired-up, Northshore Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization held an opening ceremony with administration, staff, volunteers and contractors to unveil the new play space — within a 325-foot-by-100-foot NES courtyard — for students on school grounds Friday morning, Oct. 25. “This new play space was built with funds (roughly $140,000) raised from the last two years from our school’s Fun Run, our school’s main annual fundraising event held every November (held all day Friday, Nov. 15, this year),” an NES PTO press release stated. “Lambcon, Streetscapes and The Yard Force were our contractors that helped bring our vision into reality. The play space includes a two-lane running track, full-court basketball court, two four-square pads and a concrete pad for musical performances and concerts, as well as plenty of green space for the students to run and play during recess. Our school of almost 1,100 students was in desperate need of an additional play space, and our school community rallied together to make it happen.

From the design of the space donated by Maudy Budiardja (school parent), to the concrete from Adam Lambert (school parent) to the project management by Matt Sherrod (school parent) and (concrete project manager) Joe Getley with C2C and all of the parents that helped to water and keep the new sod alive, it truly was a team effort from our NES community. We are so proud of this space and how it will serve our school community for years to come. Also, a special thanks to our administration (principal Kimberly Harris and assistant principals Stacy Hilliard and Ches Betz), teachers and staff who have supported and been patient with the construction over the last few months.” “And thank you so much to our PTO board: couldn’t have done it without all of you,” Harris said during her speech at the ceremony about president Nicole Lipsey and all other PTO contributors. After the ceremony, Harris said this project started “about four years ago” when “I was the assistant principal here and Dr. Keith Cottrell, he was the principal. We had this vision of this area, that was unused, being put to good use.” What’s more, “everything’s ADA accessible,” Harris added. Sherrod said about the sod, “We do have a group of dads called the Sodfathers that take care of the landscape.”