A new place for play at Parkade: 'More jungle gyms,' 'new monkey bars,' 'a football field'

The Parkade Elementary School playground is getting an upgrade, thanks to a $15,000 grant approved by the City Council.   ¦  Alex Lewis

COLUMBIA — If you had thousands of dollars to spend on new playground equipment, what would you buy?

The Columbia City Council recently approved a $15,000 grant for playground equipment at Parkade Elementary School. The grant will be used to install playground equipment primarily for third- through fifth-graders.

The council first approved the grant for Field Elementary School but switched to Parkade after the Columbia School Board decided Field would no longer function as a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school.

The Missourian spoke with some of the students from Parkade to find out their preferences for the new equipment. We asked what students would buy for the playground.

Here's what we found:

Third Grade

Niya Mcadoo: “New monkey bars. There are three bars missing in the middle of the ones we have now.”

Dylan Valleroy: “A football field, because I like to play football, and I know a lot of people that like football.”