By Katelyn Voorhies

STEVENS POINT – On a snowy Oct. 14 morning, school students and staff, community members, and leaders, and Portage County Business Council staff and ambassadors came together to celebrate the new McDill Elementary Playground with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

During the ceremony, a plaque was presented to McDill Elementary by the Portage County Business Council and its ambassadors, “in recognition of their contribution of the continued growth and prosperity of the Portage County area.”

“The playground project has been something in the works for many years. The staff members here, PTO, families, community really care about you guys a lot, and they’ve been working on this for years. So, for it to get to this point where we actually have new equipment already set up is pretty amazing. A big part of that was all of the fundraising that the PTO and the playground committee has been doing for years. And last year with the big kick off,” stated McDill Principal Joe Sbertoli.

“We will try to do our spring fundraiser, so we can pay the remaining balance of the loan. We are extremely pleased how much progress was made already.”

To help with the celebration, UWSP’s football team and women’s basketball athletes led station exercises as part of efforts for “a strong culture at McDill’s newest place-of-learning.” McDill students engaged in fun activities to “build school spirit and stay physically fit.”