CAY HILL, Sint Maarten – The official opening of the Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School’s new playground area took place on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. The opening was performed by Mrs. Asha Stevens, the Founder of the school together with board and management. Mrs. Jose Sommers and Mr. Leonaris Rey representing the Board of Foresee (4C) Foundation and other stakeholders .
After the passing of Hurricane Irma in 2017, the old playground sets were badly damaged and the areas became a hazard. As part of a US150,000 Foresee Educational Irma relief grant with funding to 4C by Caribbean based Windsong Foundation, playground equipment at the value of over US$ 15,000 was received by the school. The preparation of the surface, the supply of the grass mats and installation were done by Always Green and the management and staff of the Hillside Christian School. On behalf of the board, Rev. Father Rawlins and Mrs. Asha Stevens expressed their appreciation applauding the initative referring to the core of our needs to ‘play and move’ as this is what life and education is about.
Management shared the excitement of the children who could not wait for the cutting of the ribbon allowing them the play during recess time and Physical Edcuation classes. Jose Sommers on behalf of Foresee was very proud to see the team effort where so many played a role to assist in this project, where 4C board volunteered to bring all equipment to the schools, local transportation companies helped out, King Ocean/CTC gave a considerable discount on 3 container shipments and the Hillside board ,management,staff with the help of parents got this project executed. She stated that ‘projects like this can only succeed where it is done together.’
The playground features equipment suitable for children from 3-12 years. Among the equipment is a multi-play-tower-unit with slides, a roundabout, a seesaw, a rock-climbing wall, and a halfmoon climber.
After hurricane Irma Foresee foundation started an Irma relief grant project to assist schools and other educational nonprofits with the aim to assist them to ‘get back on their feet’ by giving support in areas that usually do not fall within the scope of insurance or regular school subsidies. Besides school uniforms, educational materials, afternoon school and membership fees for art classes, playgrounds formed a major part of this grant to a total of 15 schools and foundations. The exitement on the faces of the children and even adult staff confirmed the decision to focus on playground equipment.
The Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School would like to thank Always Green, 4C Foundation and a special thank you to Mrs. Jose Sommers for making this all possible, being fully convinced this donation will definitely contribute to the holistic development of its students.
