By Katie Knapp Schubert
Omaha, NE – Omaha's Benson West Elementary students will return to class August 17th to a new playground.
Benson West was chosen by the organization KaBoom for a new playground. KaBoom receives applications from schools throughout the country and selects 200 to 220 each year for a new playground. This is the second KaBoom playground built in Omaha. The first was built last year at Jackson Elementary.
Benson West Principal Terry Burton says his students designed the new playground eight weeks ago. It features 3,000 feet of green space in an area where gravel used to be. More than 300 volunteers spent Thursday building the playground, laying sod, painting murals, planting flowers, and building benches.
KaBoom Project Manager Justin Fitzgerald says the playground projects often lead to community betterment. He says volunteers who help build the playground have an energy that lasts after the project is done.
In pictures: volunteers build the new playground