Parkway Elementary School was the lucky recipient of a $10,000 donation from London Drugs.
After winning $10,000 for coming in second place in a contest with Intel, London Drugs then asked schools what they would like to do with the money and through that process Parkway was awarded the money.
Principal Todd Lindsay said the school submitted many ideas, all of which enhance the learning of students at Parkway.
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“Creating an outdoor learning area which would require the planting of local tree species and other types of Okanagan shrugs. Also installing wooden stumps for seating for students to work in this area. We would also include a fenced in exploration area in the outdoor learning area that would allow kids to once again learn to use their imagination with outdoor play. This is something that has not been happening with video games being the major draw,” said Lindsay.
The principal said they are also in desperate need of home reading books to promote the love of reading at a young age.
“Levelled reading books are so expensive for school to purchase and they can have a profound effect on students learning to read,” he said. “We would love to have funds to hire an artist in residence to help students repaint a mural that was destroyed by graffiti. This will help give our Parkway Eagles as sense of pride again.”
READ ALSO: Oliver school celebrates one year after winning $25,000
Lindsay said they would like to replace the 45 year old sound system, so they don’t have to rent equipment for their Christmas and spring concert.
We have been trying to incorporate a lot of FREE afterschool programs at Parkway as we know many of our parents cannot afford organized activities. I would really like to increase this with a little more funds so all students had an option to choose an activity.
Parkway has a number of computer coding activities that student learn about, however they don’t have enough technology to go around so all kids can work on this together. Lindsay hopes to see some of the money used to purchase more Chrome books so the students can continue to learn about coding and the early stages of robotics.
“We are so thankful to London Drugs for choose Parkway. We have an amazing group of staff, parents and community members that work so hard for our students and this will help all of those efforts,” said Lindsay.
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