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New playground equipment has been installed at Frakes School Center. Thursday the school held a special ribbon cutting ceremony and let the entire student body get out and play. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Frakes Principal Christie Willis was joined by local Bell County School Board member Mike Hatfield as she cut the ribbon for the school’s new playground on Thursday. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Students, staff and guests at Frakes School Center applaud after principal Christie Willis cut the ribbon to open their new playground. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Kids enjoy playing on and around the slides in the new playground at Frakes School Center. (Photo by Jay Compton)

A group of kids play on a field down from the playground at Frakes. Willis said there are plans to convert the area into a mini football field to be used for flag football. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Thursday was a big day for Frakes School Center. Principal Christie Willis and the entire school staff held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the school’s brand new playground.
Guests on hand included Bell County Superintendent Tom Gambrel, local School Board Member Mike Hatfield and School Board Chairman Doug Ramsey. But the day was all about the kids. After Willis cut the ribbon the entire student body was able to take to the new equipment and play their hearts out.

Willis said seeing the children get to enjoy playing on the new equipment reminded her of why she became a principal.

“These are my kids, as a principal I know every one of them. I know all of their personalities and everything about them,” she said while holding back tears. “Just to get to see them smile and be happy and out here having so much fun, it just means the world to me that I was able to give that to them while I was here in my tenure at Frakes.”

The new playground means a lot to the kids, too.

“I love this park,” young student Miley Fuson said as she took a break from playing to give Willis a hug.
The new playground equipment for Frakes was made possible through a grant from the Thompson Charitable Foundation.

Willis said Gambrel told her about the foundation almost two years ago and she immediately got to work learning how to apply for a grant.

“We had some very old, out-dated playground equipment that needed to be replaced. With schools being stripped of funding, it’s really hard to come up with that kind of money to replace playground equipment,” she said.

She got in contact with Debbie Black of the Thompson Foundation and learned what criteria they look at when awarding their grants.

“I spent the whole spring getting three estimates, taking pictures of the old playground equipment and the whole playground area. We had to get our budget numbers together and we had to get the approval of the board,” Willis said. “The board graciously gave us approval to go forward with it.”

Frakes was one of 74 applicants for funding last year and the Thompson Charitable Trust selected 25 projects to fund.

“They announced it in November at their big conference in Tampa and we were one of them,” Willis said. “We found out we would receive $50,000.”

Once the funding was approved, Willis reached out to AAA State of Play and asked what could be done with the money.

“They gave me two very workable play sets that can be used by kids aged five through 13,” she said. “The bigger kids still like to play and I wanted to make sure that every kid had a chance to just have some fun and ride on these slides.”

The equipment was ordered in December and after some delays arrived at Frakes in August. A small crew made up of Willis, her husband, Ashley Bray and her husband came and helped to unload the truck.

“Adam Russell and George Russell, their construction company, are the ones who put everything together,” Willis said. “Adam has been so gracious with me because I have a little bit of OCD and want everything the way I want it. He’s just been awesome, worked weekends and late nights to make sure everything was ready according to our timeline. They got it done.”
She added that getting the playground ready for the grand opening was a community effort. The school’s neighbors allowed them to borrow a tractor to lay wood chips and everything came together.
Willis said the next project for the school was to have a mini football field put in down the hill from the playground for the school’s flag football team.

“I’m going to get with Coach Dudley, get it lined and get a little set of bleachers put in so they can play flag football,” she said.

Willis added that she was always happy to be able to do things for her kids and her school.

“We’re just trying to restore the outside and have fun places for the kids to play. It’s all for the kids, that’s why I’m here,” she said. “I’m super excited. The kids are just thrilled to death. I don’t know if there’s a nicer playground in this area.”

After spending time playing on the new equipment, the kids were treated to free slushies in the cafeteria to wrap up their big day.

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