December 6, 2021
Lakeshore Elementary celebrated the official opening of a new community SPARK Park with a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication held on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. The ceremony was part of SPARK Week events celebrating the dedication of nine new SPARK Parks in the Greater Houston area.
The ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication, a year in the making, was postponed last year due to COVID-19.
“With everything now in place, we are so excited to officially dedicate our new SPARK Park,” Annette Nevermann, Lakeshore Elementary Principal, said. “Our students and our community deserve this new playground.”
The new park is the result of a partnership between the City of Houston’s SPARK School Park Program, the Lakeshore PTO, parents, students, and the community.
“I am proud to have helped make the SPARK Park here at Lakeshore Elementary possible,” Dave Martin, Houston Mayor Pro Tem, said. “Playtime is an important part of any child’s development, and this park provides those opportunities for children in this community.”
Visitors at the park will find picnic tables, benches, slides, swings, and climbing rope. Art installed on the fence of the new park was created by Lakeshore Elementary art teacher Jose Gonzalez. “Adding the artwork I created helps give character to our playground to help it represent Lakeshore Elementary and the neighborhoods in our community that will benefit from this space,” Gonzalez said.
Lakeshore Elementary first graders try out the new playground equipment at the SPARK Park at Lakeshore Elementary on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021.
In addition to playground equipment, donated native Texas trees such as red maples, Chinquapin oaks, and red buckeyes now dot the landscape.
The process to create Lakeshore Elementary’s SPARK Park began in 2019. “At the time, our PTO President, Liz Flores, shared the idea with me,” Ms. Nevermann said. “I wrote a letter requesting a SPARK park be added to our existing grounds, and we were approved by the SPARK Park Board.”
Funding for the new SPARK Park was made through donations from Houston Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin, Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Primrose Daycare, Humble ISD, Lakeshore Elementary, Lakeshore Elementary PTO, the Kinder Foundation, Houston Endowment, and Brown Foundation. The total cost for the project was $175,000.
SPARK, founded in 1983 by former Houston City Council member Eleanor Tinsley, is a program to help increase access to parks across Greater Houston.
“The goal of the SPARK Program is to have an established park within 10 minutes or a half-mile of all Houston residents,” Kathleen Ownby, Executive Director of the SPARK Park Program, said. “The SPARK Program consists of over 200 community parks in 17 different school districts throughout the Houston area.”
Lakeshore Elementary’s SPARK Park is open exclusively to students during school hours. The park is open to the community outside of school hours.