Welcome to the Fannie Mae - Einstein Charter School Playground Project!

 

Build Date: 2/13/2007

 

Notes from Design Day!

Project Manager Kyle Lafferty writes: "On Wednesday Dec. 13th at 11:30am the students of Einstein Charter school gathered with teachers and parents in the school library to design their dream playground. The energy of the room was one of anticipation and excitment. 25 students ages 6 through 14 sat patiently waiting to hear about the amazing gift they are going to receive on Valentine's Day 2007. This school has been open since Sept. 7th but you'd never know it was brand new. Students are all in uniform and they greet every new face in the hallway with a polite, "good morning!" The school is run by an entire family - Mr. Ron Midkiff is the principal of the school, Alice Midkiff is the school's director, their son is referred to as Coach and their daughter teaches at Einstein as well! Students greet the principal with hugs and he knows everyone of them by name. The school has already planned to hold a competition among the grades to see which grade can bring out the most parent volunteers on build day. The winner will get a pizza party! This school is hoping to serve 650 kids by the end of next year. They currently house 450 students grades K - 8, with 35 staff members. The students of Einstein have quite creative minds - they drew images of slides and monkey bars and music stages, but they also drew the essentials like bathrooms, and benches, and water fountains. This is obviously a result of their current living situation.

Driving up to Einstein is like driving through a ghost town. Streets are empty, trees are down, windows remain smashed, and roofs are nonexistant. The near by Six Flags amusement park sign reads, Closed for the Storm. The backdrop of broken rides and scattered remnants of roller coasters speak volumes. This is what the children of Einstein elementary see on a daily basis. The family atmosphere of the school has provided students with a positive safe haven as well as the teachers and parents. The group of 14 adults who attended Design Day were ready to get involved and were full of ideas and resources for our build. By the time I left, one teacher was already printing solicitation letters for food donations! The Fannie Mae representatives were also ready to get started! Ray Adkins, the Fannie Mae PM and Penelope, representing Fannie Mae's Single Family Sector were both enthusiastic and full of ideas. Overall this community is thrilled to be recieving this opportunity and I've never seen more deserving children. I can't wait to get started!"