By Satina Tolman
For The New Era
With Kenny Loggins’ “Highway to the Danger Zone” playing in the background, laughter and friendly banter bounced across the gym as 32 people, making up 13 teams, raced the clock Saturday afternoon at Hawthorne Elementary School.
Their mission: to finish a 500-piece puzzle in two hours or less.
The goal behind the friendly competition was much bigger.
The Hawthorne Parent Teacher Committee hosted the puzzle contest Jan. 31 as a fundraiser for a playground renovation. Organizers Carrie Brown, Brandy Duncan and Terri Bates said the current playground is more than 20 years old, worn down by sun and heavy use, and no longer meets the needs of many students.
replacing dated and providing ADA-accessible equipment on
the Hawthorne School playground. – Satina Tolman photos
“We are raising funds to get a new playground at Hawthorne that is ADA-accessible for our students,” said Brown, Hawthorne’s secretary. “Right now, the playground is just not easily accessible to them. It’s a safety concern also.”
Hawthorne serves about 270 students, including 10 in two Practical Academic Lifeskills classrooms, known as PALS. Brown said those students in particular struggle to use the aging equipment.
Common complaints focus on the dangers of the playground: the black plastic is breaking down, the metal bars get extremely hot, the steep metal slide is unsafe, and bees and wasps build nests in the hollow pieces. The list goes on.
“We have a lot of injuries, and we are really passionate about trying to get a new playground for our school,” Brown said.
Teams of two to three people paid $20 to compete, and the event drew families, school faculty members from across the district, and community members. Some treated it as a date night, others as a family outing, but all shared a love of puzzles and a desire to help local children.
Hawthorne counselor Julie Harvey competed on the “Puzzle Puzzlers” team with Marci Sullens, a Title I teacher at Hawthorne, and Mandy Christiansen.
“I think we’ve done a really good job using our playground and our resources as long as we possibly can,” Harvey said. “But it is time.”
Sullens said the need for a new playground has been discussed for years.
“The PTC worked for years and was making progress saving some money,” she said. “But when the district said they could no longer give money for field trips and other things, our PTC pivoted and started supporting teachers and students instead. The playground funding stopped. It just sat there and didn’t grow.”
Duncan, a media assistant at Hawthorne, said the group needs to collect approximately $65,000 and has raised roughly $20,000 so far.
Fourth- and fifth-grade teacher Serenity Wilson, who finished second with her team in just 1 hour and 11 minutes, said the upgrade would make a big difference.
“I think a new playground would drastically increase students’ motivation and excitement. I also honestly think they deserve it; they work really hard,” she added. “And I absolutely love this puzzle competition and hope we do more of them.”
Some competitors brought impressive dedication. Sweet Home High School English and drama teacher Jennifer McIntyre attended with her husband just one day after he underwent emergency appendectomy surgery.
“We love doing puzzles together at home,” McIntyre said. “But the competition aspect is surprising. It is intense!”
Hawthorne third-grader Charleigh Dixon competed alongside her grandmother, Angie Dixon. Although she is fine now, Charleigh has experienced firsthand the need for a safer playground.
“I love it, but I was standing on one of the things, and I fell and hit my head on the metal,” she said. “It really hurt.”
The top prize went to the “Quoxotic Questers,” a team made up of Sweet Home High School librarian Jill Wilson and main secretary Amy Middlemiss. They completed their puzzle in just 51 minutes.
Wilson said puzzles offer more than entertainment.
“We both have jobs that sometimes have a lot of open ends,” she said. “Puzzling helps me remember that things can be solved and completed.”
Other winners included “Double V,” which finished third, and “The Piece Keepers,” a family team of Heather, Richard and sixth-grader Nathan Uhlry, which won the Best Name award.
Velma Canfield, a media assistant at Sweet Home Junior High and former Hawthorne parent, said supporting the cause was an easy decision.
“My kids went to Hawthorne,” she said. “Anytime we can do something to help the kids, we are going to do it.”
The PTC plans additional fundraisers, including a family-friendly paint night scheduled for Feb. 11. Registration is available through the school office, and participation costs $10 per canvas.
Donations are also being accepted at the Hawthorne office. Checks can be made out to “Hawthorne PTC” with “playground fundraiser” written in the memo line.
For Brown, the reason behind all the effort is simple.
“Every child deserves a safe place to play,” she said. “We’re just trying to make that happen for ours.”
