Union City Elementary School gets new playground

UNION CITY, Tenn. (KBSI) – Union City Elementary School students have a new playground.

“They (students) have been eyeballing the area since we first began work on it,” said UCES Principal Allison Palmer. “They were just waiting for the finishing touches and couldn’t wait to get out there to explore and play.”

Playing options include a couple of gaga ball pits. Gaga ball is a game that has risen in popularity in the last 10 years. It is a variant of dodgeball and is played in an eight-foot octagon-shaped area.

Traditional equipment, all in the school colors of purple and gold, is also part of the new playground.

The project cost more than $70,000. It was funded in part by a $25,000 grant awarded to the school’s PTO through Simmons Bank last spring. The school support organization funds various wants and needs of UCES faculty and students. That organization raised more than $14,000 from an accelerated reader program and other funds coming from the Boosterthon.

UC Schools Maintenance Department personnel and contract labor helped complete the project. They did dirt work and spread several pallets of rubber pellets that form the safety base of each of the areas.

Palmer said other playground upgrades are in the works.