The Cornelia Playground Committee sent this Press Release to local Press this month:

LET’S PLAY! CORNELIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO BUILD NEW PLAYGROUND
Principal seeks community, corporate support to enable Summer 2011 groundbreaking


EDINA, Minn. – January 11, 2011

Cornelia Elementary School Principal Chris Holden wants to play, but he needs your help.

The school’s existing playground — built in 1994 — is nearing the end of its useful life, and Holden wants a safer, more engaging and accessible playground in its place. To date, the Cornelia PTO has raised more than $120,000 for the state-of-the-art playground, but needs an additional $60,000 in order to break ground in the summer.

“We are so grateful for the support we’ve received from the entire community, but there is much more work to be done if we want to be ready for next year,” said Holden. “Our playground is one of the oldest in the city, and serves not only Cornelia students but the surrounding neighborhoods as well. A replacement is well overdue.”

The new playground will boast more than 8,000 square-feet of equipment, optimized for inclusive and accessible play and constructed from sustainable materials. It will feature a Spacenet Climber, a Roller Table, an Evos play structure, a Curved Track Ride, a Sway Fun and other equipment that will entertain a wide-range of ages and abilities.

There are three ways for the public to help:
• Donate online at www.corneliaplayground.com
• Become a corporate sponsor by contacting Jeff Carver at jcarver74@gmail.com
• Share your time, expertise and/or materials during the community build. Contact John Johnson at jj.landarch@gmail.com

“This is our neighborhood, our school and our playground,” said Holden. “Let’s build it together!”

If you would like more information about the Cornelia community’s new playground, including an architect’s rendering, visit www.corneliaplayground.com or call Chris Holden at 952-848-4699.

Cornelia Elementary, a neighborhood school, located in the southeast corner of Edina, serves a culturally diverse enrollment of 580 students in grades K-5. It is committed to personalizing instruction for all students through Response to Instruction (RtI). Cornelia boasts great students
and great teachers including a Nationally Board Certified teacher, a TIES Exceptional teacher and MN Teacher of the Year candidates.