New Heights School & Early Learning Services Wins Imagination Playground In A Box System
Playground Courtesy of Foresters, Parents Magazine, and KaBOOM! Winners Announced in Parents Magazine
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CALGARY, AB, May 31, 2011–Last July, Parents, KaBOOM!, the nonprofit organization on a mission to save play, and ForestersTM, a life insurance provider that champions the well-being of families, launched a contest to give three deserving communities an Imagination Playground in a Box.
With a focus on loose parts, David Rockwell's Imagination Playground offers a changing array of elements that allows children to constantly reconfigure their environment and to design their own course of play. Giant foam blocks, mats, wagons, fabric and crates overflow with creative potential for children to play, dream, build and explore endless possibilities. Each Imagination Playground in a Box is worth $25,000. For more information about these playgrounds, go to www.imaginationplayground.org.
More than 650 communities across North America entered their playgrounds into the contest. To win, communities earned points for their playground by posting pictures to an online record, hosting meet ups and rallying other community members to “virtually” support their local playspace. In the end, Parents Magazine, KaBOOM! and Foresters awarded one of the innovative new playgrounds to New Heights School & Learning Services, a school serving over 40 children and adolescents with autism and other related disorders in the Calgary community.
New Heights School is specially designed to help children aged 2-19 that Alberta Education describes as "a child … whose physical, medical or neurological disability is so severe that s/he requires extensive personal assistance and modifications to the learning environment in order to benefit from schooling." This includes children with autism and related disorders, including Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). New Heights started operation in the fall of 1999. New Heights School is a place where children can feel happy and secure while learning and growing. They focus on increasing each student's:
- sense of him/herself as a learner
- independence and self-regulation
- interest, respect and responsiveness to others
- communication and social skills
- fine, gross and sensory-motor skills
- play skills
- creative and critical thinking skills
Now New Heights School & Learning Services has received their new play equipment system and will be unveiling it in an event open only to the press.
When: 10 AM, May 31st
Where: 1323 McKnight Blvd. NE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
For more information about New Heights Early Learning Services and other winners, go to: http://www.parents.com/blogs/goodyblog/2010/10/and-the-winners-are/.
About Parents:
Parents, published monthly by Meredith Corporation, has been America's #1 family magazine for more than 80 years. Since its inception in 1926, it has been a trusted source by every generation of parents. Currently, the magazine is a powerful community of nearly 15 million readers devoted to supporting the efforts of parents, educators and other citizens who strive to make the world a better place for our children. Parents can be found online at www.parents.com
About Foresters
Founded in 1874 as a fraternal benefit society, Foresters
TM champions the well-being of families through quality life insurance, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities. Foresters shares its financial strength with more than 835,000 members in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Unity Life of Canada‡, a wholly owned subsidiary of Foresters, represents Foresters in Canada. For more information, please visit
www.foresters.com.
ForestersTM is a trademark of The Independent Order of Foresters, a fraternal benefit society, Toronto, Canada M3C 1T9.
‡ Unity Life of Canada, a Foresters company, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Independent Order of Foresters
About KaBOOM!
KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since 1995, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,800 new playgrounds, skateparks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, free online trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and Playmakers – a national network of individual advocates for play. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.
About Rockwell Group
Rockwell Group is an award winning, cross-disciplinary 120-person architecture and design firm specializing in cultural, hospitality, retail, product, and set design. Based in New York, with satellite offices in Madrid and Dubai, the firm crafts a unique narrative and an immersive environment for each project. Rockwell’s interest in theater has informed much of the firm's work, which includes the W Hotel, Union Square; Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel; Adour Alain Ducasse at the St. Regis New York, the central Marketplace of the JetBlue terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport; set design for the 2009 and 2010 Academy Awards ceremonies; the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Nobu restaurants worldwide, set designs for Broadway's "Hairspray,"and the upcoming "Houdini;" Canyon Ranch Living in Miami; the Elinor Bunin-Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center; and the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. David Rockwell was honored with the 2009 Pratt Institute Legends Award,and the 2008 National Design Award for Interior Design from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt. For more information, please visit www.rockwellgroup.com.
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Last Modified: May 31, 2011.
407476 US (05/11)
