Monday, November 14, 2016 was a great day for Ridgemont Elementary School and Fort Bend ISD. Ridgemont is the first school in Fort Bend ISD to receive a SPARK Park. The SPARK Park at Ridgemont Elementary will not only be enjoyed by the students, the residents and community members will also be able to use this public space during after school hours.
SPARK School Program works with schools and neighborhoods to develop community parks on public school grounds. For the past 30 years, SPARK has built over 200 community parks throughout the Houston/Harris County area. Each SPARK Park is unique, with its design based on the ideas and needs of the school and surrounding neighborhoods. Each park, however, consists of modular playground equipment, a walking trail, benches, picnic tables, trees, an outdoor classroom and a public art component.
Ridgemont SPARK Park includes a 6-foot wide walking trail around the playground area; the existing asphalt driveway has been painted to accommodate 2 basketball areas; a pair of semi-permanent soccer goals have also been added to the park. There are 3 benches and a concrete seat wall featuring student tiles located alongside the track. The total cost of the SPARK Park was $147,800. The money invested in this school campus was worth seeing the smiles on the student’s faces during the grand opening.
