By Adam Donnelly

Pinantan Elementary wants your vote in BCAA Play Here contest

May 28, 2018 | 5:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — Every year, BCAA gives three prizes of $100,000 to communities hoping to improve their play spaces in the BCAA Play Here campaign. Last year, Marion Schilling Elementary School was chosen as one of the winning projects and this year Pinantan Elementary School has been named one of ten finalists for the awards. Today, CFJC News headed up to the community of Pinantan Lake to speak with members of the Parent Advisory Council to find out more about the project and how the Kamloops community can help Pinantan Elementary win.

Located about 30 minutes northeast of Kamloops, Pinantan Lake is a community of around 400 people with an elementary school housing close to 45 students.

“It’s a wonderful community,” PAC President Nikki Williams says. “We’re very close-knit, we know our neighbours… a lot of people have been here a long time, and a lot of kids have been in the school for a long time. We love our community.”

The love for their community shines through in a video produced by staff, students and the parental advisory council of Pinantan Elementary and submitted to BCAA’s Play Here contest.

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“The playground that we have now, I heard it’s from the ’60’s,” Williams says. “If you think of that span, it’s about 60 years old… the structures are rusting, some of the teeter-totters aren’t safe. An upgrade would be so great for the kids, and for the community.”

Chris Wood is the principal of Pinantan Elementary and sees every day the need for an upgrade to the play space at his school. He’s hopeful this campaign can capture some of the energy previous BCAA Play Here campaigns have been able to harness in the Kamloops community.

“With the PAC’s help, you know, they’ve been working hard at this,” Wood says. “There’s only so much money we have as a community. We definitely need the support from outside the community as well.

Pinantan Elementary is the only school in SD 73 that made the final ten. Monday marks the first day of voting in the 2018 Play Here contest, with each individual able to vote 4 times per day.

“Each person can vote on those four different platforms – it’s 25 days, so one person’s vote can be worth 100,” Williams explains.

You can vote for Pinantan Elementary School at www.bcaaplayhere.com.