Summerland Elementary School’s New Sports Court Opens
Summerland Elementary School and the Summerland community have a new sports court area thanks to the generosity and legacy building by Summerland residents Nora McNeely Hurley and husband Michael Hurley through Nora’s family Manitou Foundation, who donated the $1.3 million needed to make it happen.
Superintendent of the Carpinteria Unified School District (CUSD) Diana Rigby explains:
“CUSD rebuilt the new Summerland School, but did not have the funds to rebuild the decaying tennis/bb courts. Nora McNeely Hurley with her Manitou Fund generously donated $1.3M to complete the new courts. We are so grateful! The sports courts project began in January 2023 and was completed this month. The courts are available to students during the school day and for the community after school hours and on non-school days. Steve McGillivray Construction built the courts and Joe Wilcox, Architect with KBZ, designed the courts.”
The CUSD held a ceremony to officially open the sports court on Monday, October 16, at 1:30 pm. Rigby led the program and introduced her team from CUSD, the Summerland Elementary School teachers, administration, and their custodian, along with the students and the construction team.
The students led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance and in singing “You’re A Grand Old Flag” by George M. Cohen. Teacher in ChargeDr. Shannon Colson called the 5th-grade student leaders to hold the giant orange ribbon and participate in the official ribbon cutting with Rigby.
Colson directed the sports demos. First up was the tennis courts where she served the first ball and the students played doubles. Next, the basketball team demo’ed their best dunk shots and ball twirling on their index finger to the applause of the attendees.
Rigby dedicated the large, white ceramic planter holding a half dozen purple orchid plants to Hurley, which was accepted by Thomas Rollerson,Chief Advisor Advocate for All Things Good organization, in her place. To close the event, students lined up to say thanks and give their handmade thank-you cards with artwork and notes to Rollerson to give to Hurley. They then jumped into free play on the sports courts and a fun time was had by all!
Attending the event from Summerland Elementary were Martha Saavedra, Anthony Casey, K and 1st grade teacher Cristine Villa, 4th and 5th grade teacher Anya Simonovich, musicinstructor Tom Pavia, and instructional assistants Maria (Lupe) Gonzalez, Gretchen Souza, and Joyce Bantugan; in addition Board President of CUSD Jaime Diamond, Chief Business Operator of CUSD Maureen Fitzgerald, CUSD Board of Trustee Sally Green,engineer and owner of the Carpinteria Dory Company Eric Bridgford,CUSD Director of Maintenance,Operations, and Transportation Jim Pettit, Construction Manager at Fonder-Salari Inc. Scott Brontsema, and Tom Rollerson.
The MJ thanks Nora McNeely Hurley for her continued generosity to our community now and for decades to come!
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