When Julie Michaud’s children were young, she would take them to various playgrounds in and around Edmundston, including the playground at the school where she is principal: Saint Mary’s Academy (SMA).
“It hurt me when they would say ‘we want to go to a different park’ because they would see nicer parks,” said Michaud. “So, I was like, OK, we are going to have a nice park. This is my goal.”
Her goal was realized last Friday as parents, local dignitaries, students, and staff gathered at the school for the formal unveiling of its refurbished playground.
14 years of focus and fundraising
Michaud made a promise to herself in 2010, when she became Saint Mary’s Academy principal, that she would improve the school’s playground. It’s something she kept in the back of her mind until 2017, when she began fundraising in earnest.
“It’s the little fundraisers here and there that helped us accumulate money to pay for our playground,” she said. “SMA really sticks together. It’s really more like a family.”
Those fundraisers included the annual apple-pie fundraiser, various raffles, a community breakfast, a Halloween haunted house sponsored by Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, movie nights, and dances.
The school raised roughly $80,000 through its own efforts, with roughly $42,500 of that coming from local sponsors’ donations. The total amount raised by Saint Mary’s was then doubled, thanks to a provincial Regional Development Corporation Community Development Fund matching grant, for a total of $160,000.
“I’m not necessarily surprised that we’re seeing this because our community is really tight-knit,” said Edmundston Mayor Eric Marquis. “The people come together when they have a project for kids like this. They are really into it.”
Marquis joined school officials, students, and a representative for the Honorable Madame Francine Landry, Speaker of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly and MLA for Madawaska-Les-Lacs-Edmundston, in praising the work done to improve the playground.
“All of the volunteers brought something really special to all of the kids from Saint Mary’s Academy,” he said.
Donor List
The school will eventually display a wooden [donor] tree structure with birds and leaves, and depending on how much money you gave, the size of the leaves change and the leaves have your name on them.
SMA Principal Julie Michaud
• Platinum Sponsorship: $10,000 and above
• Gold Sponsorship: $2,001 – $5,000
• Silver Sponsorship: $1,001 – $2,000
• Bronze Sponsorship: $500 – $1,000
Saint Mary’s Academy would like to thank the following local donors:
o Super Marche Donat Theriault: Bronze – $500
o Adeline Nguimfack: Bronze – $500
o Pierre Nguimfack: Bronze – $500
o Grey Rock Casino: Bronze – $1000
o MERRIT Press Ltd.: Bronze – $500
o Déjeuner AM Breakfast: Bronze – $2500
o Le Pirate: Bronze – $2500
o MMFN Haunted House: Gold – $6900
o Edmundston Fish Market: Gold – $2001
o Elan Jeunesse: Platinum – $25 000
o Université de Moncton, Campus D’Edmundston: Bronze – $100
o IPL: Bronze – $500
One of those volunteers was the school’s Parent School Support Committee (PSSC) chairperson Shirley Pelletier.
“My daughter was in Grade 4 or 5 when this project started, and now she’s a staff member of SMA. So that’s how long I’ve been involved in this program,” Pelletier said. “I’ve never stopped volunteering at the school even after she graduated.”
The PSSC worked with the Parents Volunteer Committee and students to determine what new playground structures students wanted. Students voted overwhelmingly for parkour-style equipment, nine pieces of which were added to the existing swing sets, teeter-totters, and a climbing structure to create the new playground. Construction began on Oct. 29 and was done by Expert Fence, who installed the new play structures, and Tims Paving, who did both the excavation work and installed the protective surfacing.
Fun is the point
Students are already loving the new space, as only they can.
“I like the zipline,” said Grade 5 student Mali St-Onge. “I like holding onto it when it swings, and I like when my friends push me on it, and I fling over.”
Grade 4 student Cyruss Ahountsa Namekong is also a fan of the new zipline but likes “the new slide and also the soccer” pitch, which was there before.
The refurbished playground benefits more than Saint Mary’s Academy’s students, Pelletier said: “We have a whole set of children that live around here that will be able to come here in the evenings, and on weekends and use the playground and have fun and bring some energy. That’s great.”
A blast from the past: The original playground, 2003
