(Lafayette photos by Luckie)
Volunteers spent much of Saturday working on playground projects at two West Seattle schools – as the first day of school gets ever-closer. Top photo is the mountain of wood chips that volunteers at Lafayette Elementary took on; next, the play structure that volunteers at Our Lady of Guadalupe worked on:

(OLG photos by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
More on both, ahead – as well as indoor improvements at both schools:

At OLG, parent volunteers and parishioners came out today for playground-building duty. Its design was chosen through an online vote:

WSB contributor Ellen Cedergreen reports that Michelle Turcinec, parent-volunteer coordinator for the project, said things were going pretty smoothly but that they’d needed to dig some new holes for the structure’s poles, due to a fit issue. There was also an issue with a slide, that will need to be replaced, according to principal Kristin Dixon. Dixon told WSB the playground should be complete in about 3 weeks, just a few weeks after school starts. In the meantime, the kids will use the playground on the upper High Point playfield until theirs gets the green light, after inspection. The principal also had high praise for parent coordinator Turcinec, who saw the project through to the end by generating a lot of enthusiasm and excitement; here she is taking a break with some of the team:

“It’s a parent project from start to finish,” Dixon said, likening the Saturday efforts to a barn raising. “Michelle took care of everything.”

While at OLG, Ellen also took a peek inside the new science lab, located in the sixth-grade homeroom. The room features new sinks, work stations, counters, and lab equipment. Incoming sixth graders are excited to be the first to try out the new room:

Now back to Lafayette, where Luckie reports volunteers worked from 9 am to 5:30 pm on Saturday to continue earlier work, including some interior touches:

But outdoors was the main event:

Young volunteers had a special art project: Flower plaques for the Lafayette garden:

The Lafayette playground will be dedicated on September 6th, the day before school starts for Seattle Public Schools.