December 3rd marked a special day that has been in the works for the last 3 years! Ms. Saenger welcomed students, staff, contractors and families to the Grand Opening of the Brackendale Elementary new Outdoor Classroom and Nature Play Area on December 3rd. We were grateful that Cynthia Lewis, Skohomish Nation Elder, was here to offer a blessing.
This spring, BRE was awarded a grant, which gave them the final money needed to create the outdoor classroom project for our School. Thank you to Laura Lazaridis for writing the grant proposal that successfully awarded us $125,000 from the B.C. Community Gaming Capital Project Grant program.
Finishing touches for the project will be completed over the next few months, and planting in the Spring. This will include benches inside the structure, the B/C Hydro Box Wrap, planting around the garden areas, and a Thank you plaque when the final work is completed
Many thanks to the many companies who have donated labour, materials, and transportation of materials and given so much support to our PAC to make this project possible.
• AJ Forest Products for donating logs to be carved into our amazing orcas.
• All Terrain Excavation, Shane Price, parent of Halle, Aliyah and Kynlee. Shane donated many hours of groundwork preparation and the finishing touches to make everything go smooth for our team.
• Alpen Construction - Graham Roberge, parent to Madison and Sam, thank you Graham for donating your time and helping to coordinate and rally donations for all the formwork and concrete of the outdoor classroom.
• Black Mount Logging - represented by Laren Saidon, parent of Carter, Mila, Lincoln and Hannah, for donating all the gorgeous timber that made the beams in the Outdoor Classroom
• Cardinal Concrete & Westland Concrete Pumping - for donating all the concrete!
• Corridor Concrete Pumping - for pumping our concrete in!
• Howe Sound Equipment for transporting out beams to be milled!
• JR Transport for helping to get the Timbers to the mill to be cleaned up.
• Legacy Timberworks, Luke King, parent of Waverly and Sullivan. Thank you for bringing this project to our school, coordinating the permit and all the professionals needed, and donating your time throughout the project. Thank you to your awesome crew as well!!
• Northwest Landscape Supply for donating all the rock ‘stumps’, which will be a great space for break-out groups, and the floor is lava course!
• Saw Valley Carvings Ryan Cook, who created the incredible carvings and benches to make our Nature Play Area come to life.
• Shannon Swanson helped create kite campaign posters for donations and the beautiful artwork that will wrap the hydro box.
• Shillito's Steel for helping with all the rebar and reinforcing, thank you!
• Summit Concrete Specialists for making sure the concrete slab was finished up smooth and sound.
• SD48 Operations and Facilities team members who helped make this project come together.
A huge thank you also goes out to our families and community members who have donated directly to the project, supported the PAC fundraising efforts, and helped out in many ways.
Brackendale Elementary PAC president, Jinelle Thompson, lead the project from the start, and everyone is grateful for her tireless efforts and tenacity to make this dream project come true. Thank you to all the past and current PAC members and the Structure Committee for fundraising and planning over the last 3 years!
The students and staff of Brackendale Elementary, both present and future, look forward to connecting to nature, the land and the environment in this beautiful new space through learning and play.
