By Jessica Lovell
Guelph Tribune

Life will soon be made in the shade for students at St. John elementary school. The kids learned Wednesday morning that their schoolyard greening project was selected to receive $45,000 from the Aviva Community Fund competition.
“The big thing really is naturalizing the space out there,” said project chair and St. John parent Shelley Berry.
“The big push is the shade factor . . . they don’t really have that now,” she said.
The school was abuzz Wednesday with noisy, excited parents and children, who came out early – around 6 a.m. – to hear the winners of the competition announced on a live CTV broadcast. Canada AM’s Jeff Hutcheson was on hand to make the announcement.
“We’re absolutely elated,” said Berry of the news. “We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.”
St. John started its schoolyard greening in June 2010, planning a multi-stage greening project that will see the playground transformed into a more shady, more natural, more stimulating environment.  Parts of the project, including a refurbished baseball diamond, a new garden and pathway, and a play area for senior kindergarten students, have already been completed with money raised in the community.
The money from Aviva Insurance – part of a total $1 million that went to projects and organizations across the country – will allow the school to get to work on the next phase of the project that much sooner, said Berry.
“This propels us ahead so far,” she said. The best part is “the kids that are part of all this are going to get to experience it,” she added, explaining that it won’t just be a project that future St. John students will enjoy, but current ones as well.
The next stage of the project will include the transformation of the junior kindergarten enclosure, the creation of an outdoor classroom, completion of the pathway that was started last year, and the creation of an outdoor volleyball court, she said.
The entire project is expected to cost around $150,000, with additional funding to be raised through council fundraisers, new grant applications and corporate donations. The project was slated to take shape over several years.
Thanks to the recent round of funding, “the benefits are going to be realized sooner,” said Berry.
“The support from the community and the well- thought-out proposal made are part of what compelled the judge to pick the school as one of the 2011 winners,” said Aviva public relations manager Glenn Cooper in a news release.
The school was one of 12 winners to share in the million dollars distributed by Aviva to projects and ideas meant to create positive and lasting impacts on their communities, it said.
To check out the winning projects, including full details of St. John’s winning entry, visit:
avivacommunityfund.org.