Generous donation makes new playground for Holy Trinity students a reality

*Charlie Craig, 6, was surprised by the fast slide on the new playground equipment. He and his friends took multiple turns climbing up the tower to slide down during the morning recess.*

Tuesday morning, Holy Trinity Catholic School celebrated the opening of the new playground at the Central Campus.

The new playground boasts a greatly upgraded system of play structures with multiple slides, monkey bars and climbing features. One section is aimed to accommodate the preschool and pre-K students at the school, with a larger structure available for the kindergarten through second graders.

In addition to the two play structures, the updated playground also incorporates musical instruments, many new swings for students of different ages, a climbing dome, and benches for seating.

*The larger of the two structures added to the Central Campus playground.*

During the ceremony, the school recognized the impact of Ray Schwenk’s family and the donation they made in his honor due to his love of the campus. Their donation, combined with a matching donation from GameTime, the playground equipment supplier, helped bring the project to fruition.

“The church and school have always been incredibly important to him,” Schwenk’s daughter, Cori, said after the ceremony.

She added that he also enjoyed volunteering to mow the area around the playground for the church when he was alive.

“He always enjoyed the playground,” Cori said. “So it is cool to see them all playing on it.”

Ray’s son, Scott Schwenk, added that it was great to see his father still have an impact in the church and school.

“I know our kids are excited about it,” he said.

The student body of the Central Campus gathered to tell the Schwenk family thank you prior to being allowed to play on the new playground for the first time. Principal Seng noted it was appropriate that generosity was the theme for February at the school.

According to Principal Jenna Seng, the Central Campus students have been excitedly watching the installation of the new playground for about two-and-a-half weeks. The school originally scheduled the work during a time when the students would likely be playing inside due to the weather. However, with the mild weather recently, the students had a front-row seat to watch the project during their recess times.

“They have been lined up along the concrete most days watching the demolition and construction take place,” Seng said. “Day-by-day they’ve been anxiously waiting their turn to get on it.”

Shortly after the blessing, the children were allowed to play on the new playground for the first time.

“We are grateful for the support from our parishioners and community partners that help us make different projects like this possible,” Seng said.