The Ariton Elementary School playground was damaged by a fallen tree during a thunderstorm the summer of 2021 and the playground equipment needed to be replaced. Ariton School began a campaign to raise money for the playground and called it “Purple Cats Want to Play”. This fundraiser was organized and promoted by The Purple Planners, an event planning and management class at Ariton High School. These talented students created a flier and set a goal of $30,000.00. Our school and community came together and raised $73, 749.75 in donations through this project based learning opportunity.
In addition to purchasing new playground equipment, the playground area had to be landscaped to prevent erosion and encase the current and future playground equipment with wood chips. The area also had to be made accessible to all students for safe and maximum participation.