TIFTON — Len Lastinger students, teachers and volunteers found themselves at school on a chilly Saturday morning this past weekend with one major task at hand: build their dream playground.

This was the first major build day for the school where community volunteers were welcomed to help. Fisher was impressed by the donations of not only materials, but the skill sets of volunteers. He called the turn out “incredible.”

Not all of the volunteers were local.

One group drove up from Pensacola, Fla. to lend a helping hand. Faith Higgins, DeVon Snell and Quanese Snell also won a grant from KaBOOM! to build a playground in Camshire Meadows. In Spring, Len Lastinger PTO members and the administration plan on returning the favor when they begin construction in Pensacola.

Higgins said the playground is just phase one in building a community center. She thinks the projects provides “motivation to the residents, to see what can be done in that area when everyone teams up together.”

The process of constructing the playground provided many lessons including the importance of play, teamwork and community.

It started with a video submission for a $20,000 grant that asked, “Are you smarter than a Len Lastinger bee?”

A group of students take on Principal Richard Fisher in a recreation of the game show “Are You Smarter Than a fifth grader?” In the video, the students answer questions about the importance of play, teachers agree, and their principal admits they know more than he does.

The video was entered into grant competition by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and national non-profit KaBOOM! The school garnered enough online votes through Facebook, thanks to students, teachers, parents and the entire Len Lastinger community, to win the $20,000 grant.

That grant paired with $10,100 raised by the PTO will help the school to complete their dream playground. When they got the call that they won the grant Debby Monfort, PTO Playground/Grants Committee co-chair, said it was “surreal.”

Since winning the grant, the Len Lastinger PTO and administration began creating their master plan. They started by asking the students what they would like on their ultimate playground. Then parents and teachers were invited to share their ideas. Monfort said they wanted to construct a playground that was accessible to all students, that reinforced ideas being explored in the classroom, and that could utilize and improve the existing layout.

Monfort said that play improves focus in class, relieves stress, builds teamwork and problem solving skills, and gets students physically active.

“It’s necessary for them,” she said.

The master plan includes the updates the school is doing now and updates they plan to make in the future. The goal is to create a space for “interactive, inclusive play,” said Monfort.

Monfort was thankful for all of the volunteers and sponsors that made not only Build Day, but the entire playground possible. Local businesses provided skill, materials, as well as snacks and drinks to keep volunteers comfortable throughout the day.

The local sponsors included Espresso 41, JoJo’s Family Restaurant, Chick-fil-a, Firehouse Subs, Zaxby’s, Lowe’s of Tifton, the Paulk Family, Flash Foods, Etch Creative, LLC, Cornerstone Engineering Consultants, Inc., Tifton Rental Center and Garfield Rhaney.

Those interested in donating materials, funds or time to the construction of the playground can contact the school at (229) 387-2420.