Immaculate Conception sixth-grader Javier Chacón couldn't wait to try out the rock climbing wall. Fourth-grader Natalie Barranco was looking forward to using the new swings and coming down the curvy plastic slide.

"I think it's pretty awesome, 'cause we never had a playground before," smiled Javier, eyes wide behind his glasses. "I think everybody's going to like it."

Natalie was nodding. "Before, we would run and race. We would play kickball. Some of the boys would play soccer and a bunch of them would play basketball. Some of the girls would play basketball, too. And that would be all. My favorite thing is going to be the new swings and I think the slides, too."

Both believe they'll be getting more exercise from now on at the inner-city parochial school founded in 1919 and located on the western edge of downtown Los Angeles. Moreover, that extra exertion will be a lot more fun.

"Yeah, 'cause you're moving around more," Javier explained. "You have to, like, get yourself back up there on the slide. And with rock climbing, you have to use your arms."

'Slither' slide
On November 5, more than 200 Home Depot volunteers, Immaculate Conception parents and staff from the national nonprofit organization KaBOOM! converged on the school's upper and lower asphalt schoolyards by 8:30 a.m. Six hours later, in a monumental effort akin to an Amish barn-raising, they had built a state-of-the-art 2,500 square-foot playground - the first the school has had in its long history.

The main feature is a red, cream and gray future-looking complex that includes a six-foot slither slide, a "crazy bones" connecting bridge, a rock block wall and inclined cliff hanger, a sliding pole, big buttons rising from the ground like giant mushrooms plus a scavenger hunt panel. Right beside all this is a much more traditional, but still inviting, four-seat swing.

In addition, groups of workers built five sturdy wood benches with planter boxes at both ends, three trellis benches with vines soon to be growing up them, five "cubbies" where students can neatly store their backpacks, and a "peace pole." They also painted basketball backboards and posts as well as eye-catching murals with checker board and tic-tac-toe designs to go on top of lunch tables. And, they hauled in rich fertilized soil to perk up a dying garden bed.

The $100,000 project was financed by seed money from school donors Roger and Evelyn Cusumano, and a generous grant from KaBOOM!'s funding partner Home Depot. The competitive application process started last spring with a needs assessment and included many conference calls. After getting a go-ahead in August, a fall "planning day" was held where students drew pictures of what they wanted their playground to look like, and parents offered additional suggestions.

Dreams come true
Mary Ann Murphy has been the principal of Immaculate Conception School for 23 years. On the Thursday morning of November 5, observing the activity going on in her schoolyard, the normally unflappable administrator was overcome seeing all the parents and other volunteers hard at work.

"It's been an overwhelming experience today," she said. "I stood in the yard at one point and just cried watching it go up. And when we got the news that this was going to happen for us, I went to the different classes and asked, 'How many of you in your lives at Immaculate Conception dreamed that you might someday have a playground?' They all raised their hands, and I told them that their dreams had just come true."

When the seasoned Catholic educator was asked what the new playground would mean to the little parochial school with 225 students, her first response was, "Oh my gosh!" Then she explained: "Most of these children live in places where they don't have yards. It's not safe to go out and play in front. There aren't many parks nearby. So this will be an opportunity for our kids to have a real active and creative form of play that they don't have where they live in a safe environment.

"It will mean that our parish community will have something for the religious educations kids, too," she said. "With adult supervision, they'll be able to use it as well. It's our community playground. The 'peace pole' they're putting up will have a prayer for peace in eight different languages.

"And the directional post will have universities where alums and teachers have gone plus four Catholic landmarks: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Vatican, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City and Christ of the Andes in Chile. So these will be great role models for the kids."

Play on decline
The KaBOOM! project manager for the Immaculate Conception playground, Ariel Fortune, grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She called the day's effort a "great success." The Washington, D.C.-based organization has built more than 1,700 such playgrounds since 1996. And it's all about play, Fortune stressed.

"Play is on the decline across the country," the 24-year-old graduate of Smith College told The Tidings. "Play needs to get back in the lives of kids. We need to get them outside. And it's not only something that helps them today, but it makes them better citizens of the world later. Social interaction and being physical and being active, it starts at the playground and it goes from there.

"The playground is a place where kids can meet each other, learn rules and boundaries, be imaginative, be creative and be playful," she said. "So it's much more beyond just the physical benefits."

Javier and Natalie couldn't wait to test some new recess boundaries.

They were both impressed by their parents and relatives pitching in to build them a playground. Natalie said her mother volunteered all day "because she knows that me and my sister are going to like it. My younger sister, Melanye, has been talking about it for, like, a month."

Javier was happy and proud that his uncle and other adults took off work to come to Immaculate Conception today. "I think it's pretty good and exciting to have people help us build our playground," he mused. "And I think when we grow up, we'll do just like they did for us."