Sponsors, volunteers boost OPA with playground equipment shed

By Michael Dashiell • November 9, 2022 1:30 am
Michael Dashiell/Sequim Gazette Jess Haugen, second from right, vice president of Olympic Peninsula Academy’s Parent-Teacher Organization, lauds the sponsors and volunteers who helped construct a playground equipment shed for the school. Pictured, from left, are Donovan Rynearson, OPA parent/board member Paul Rynearson, Mia Buhrer, Matilda Woodbury, Milo Haugen and OPA PTO president Lisa Bridge.
Michael Dashiell/Sequim Gazette Jess Haugen, second from right, vice president of Olympic Peninsula Academy’s Parent-Teacher Organization, lauds the sponsors and volunteers who helped construct a playground equipment shed for the school. Pictured, from left, are Donovan Rynearson, OPA parent/board member Paul Rynearson, Mia Buhrer, Matilda Woodbury, Milo Haugen and OPA PTO president Lisa Bridge.

Thanks to some generous sponsors and some off-site construction, Olympic Peninsula Academy students and teachers have easier access to playground equipment.

Representatives from OPA’s Parent-Teacher Organization, along with students and school district staff, celebrated the completion of an equipment shed adjacent to the school playground facilities near the corner of West Alder Street and North Third Avenue.

Sponsors/contributors included Team McAleer, Strait Floors and Westerra Homes, with $1,050 in total raised for the project.

Previously, playground equipment was stored in mobile units, PTO vice president Jessica Haugen said.

“Teachers had to carry equipment for a variety of games [to the playground],” she said.

Because there is no power at the site, Paul Rynearson — an OPA parent and PTO board member — said he and his wife worked on it each day after work at their home before transporting it. The Rynearsons, including Paul and Jane, and children Donovan, Dean and Devon, teamed up to build the shed.

The OPA PTO team, which recently held a bake sale and dinner take-out (with Alderwood Bistro donating chili and cornbread meals) and a Holiday Bazaar on Nov. 5, will host a shred event in March.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Youngsters (from left) Milo Haugen, Matilda Woodbury, Hawksley Haugen and Mia Buhrer on Oct. 28 thank sponsors for their contributions to fund a new playgroup equipment shed for Olympic Peninsula Academy classes.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Youngsters (from left) Milo Haugen, Matilda Woodbury, Hawksley Haugen and Mia Buhrer on Oct. 28 thank sponsors for their contributions to fund a new playgroup equipment shed for Olympic Peninsula Academy classes.