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View Winners → Mayflower Elementary Wins $20,000 Grant for New Playground
Monrovia Weekly Jul 15, 2015
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– Photo by Terry Miller
By Joyce Peng
Mayflower Elementary School has received a $20,000 new playground grant after it finished first in the 2015 Let’s Play Video Contest sponsored by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and KaBOOM!.
Schools from across the nation submitted videos demonstrating their need for an improved play space. A panel of judges from Dr. Pepper Snapple and KaBOOM! picked 10 finalists based on content and quality of their videos. Then, the videos opened for public voting on www.LetsPlay.com. Finalists who finished in the top five each received $20,000, and the winners were contacted directly on June 29.
In December 2014, the Mayflower Elementary Parent Teacher Association partnered with the Monrovia Unified School District (MUSD) to raise funds for the renovation of the school’s field. At the same time that project was announced, the idea to bring in a new playground arose. $35,000 was raised, but that fell short of the projected target of $60,000. Mayflower PTA Grant Writer Johanna Figueroa learned about the playground grant from an email from KaBOOM! on April 7. In a little over three weeks, Mayflower PTA completed the entire grant application and video before the contest’s May 1 deadline.
PTA President Jessica Kitterman said play is an essential part of a kid’s development.
“They can explore, have fun, collaborate with peers, and develop skills,” she explained. “Kids are all on their technologies these days. Let’s go out and play; it’s that simple.”
The existing school playground’s exact age is undetermined but is at least over 15 years old, Mayflower Elementary Principal Dr. Tamar Kataroyan noted. The unpainted playground needed constant maintenance and consisted of mostly swings.
With the new playground, kids have more options. It will feature an eight-seat swing set, including two inclusive seats for kids with disabilities, a climbing dome, and a slide. The new playground aligned with the kids’ wishes. They had voiced their suggestions and PTA members had watched and studied kids’ activities on the playground.
New playing equipment encourages kids to be active and play more. Kataroyan has seen its power. The school’s extremely supportive PTA bought new sporting equipment like footballs, soccer balls, teder balls, jump ropes and basketballs a few times last school year, and when the kids noticed the equipment, an excited glow bloomed in their eyes.
“They come out and they fill the field,” she voiced. “The best scene as a principal is to see kids being active and enjoy play. But when the balls get old or are lost, I see kids not playing and just standing around.”
Not only do the Mayflower kids benefit from the new playground and field, but also the broader community. Its campus is open to the public for family activities. Boys and Girls Club, American Youth Soccer Organization, and Monrovia Youth Baseball League also use the field, Kitterman mentioned.
It was this broader community that had worked together to win the grant.
“It was excited to see the whole community come together,” Kataroyan said. “There was a lot of teamwork involved and it showed what this city is all about. I’m so proud and thankful to be a part of this amazing school and community.”
Kitterman expressed gratitude to all who joined in the effort to be connected and involved in the campaign, including MUSD Superintendent Dr. Katherine Thorossian, Dr. Tamar Kataroyan and Connie Wu, MUSD Chief Business Officer.
She also was grateful to Johnny Brookbank and Ed Tommasi from Scratch Creative, a local video production company who made the video for free. The video featured three Mayflower kids engrossed in technology and standing in front of their playground. The narrator spoke about the unfilled dreams the three kids have. Because of a lack of a proper playground, they cannot spend hours swinging with friends or work out to become a professional wrestler.
The community also collaborated to promote the voting. Mayflower Elementary PTA got the word out to the community through Facebook, and council members, school board members, and business owners all rallied. Kids and parents handed out flyers down Myrtle Avenue stirring support for this opportunity from local business owners.
“We would like to give thanks to our current mayor Tom Adams and former mayor Mary Ann Lutz who supported the campaign,” Kitterman said.
Despite the contest being over, involvement from the community is not finished yet. Kitterman said the whole community is invited to come to Mayflower as it is slated as a community-build project on a yet-to-be-determined date. The work is planned to be finished in one day.
Be sure to look for upcoming information on the Mayflower PTA page on Facebook.
