2012 NAESP Annual Convention & Exposition, Seattle, Wash.
Elementary school principals from all over the country gathered in Seattle for the NAESP Annual Convention & Exposition held March 21-24. The Landscape Structures booth was filled with bright, spring colors. It featured the PlayBooster® Vibe™ in Tangerine and Limon, and circular hanging green banners helped communicate our message of inclusive play.
Landscape Structures sponsored NAESP's fourth annual Community Service Day. Nearly 100 elementary and middle school principals congregated to build an inclusive playground at Hawthorne Elementary School. Principals installed an inclusive PlayBooster playstructure. To complete the play space, the PebbleFlex® surfacing system was installed in April.
During the Service Project, principals that volunteered were the first to hear about the School Grounds. Playgrounds. Common Ground.™ essay contest. The remainder of the Convention attendees heard of the school playground contest the morning of March 22 during the Opening Keynote Session.
The Convention hosted renowned speakers for their General Sessions. Diane Ravitch, a historian of education at New York University and the author of the best-selling book The Death and Life of the Great American Education System, opened the conference by discussing school reform practices. Rafe Esquith, an innovative, multiple-award-winning American teacher at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles, Calif., closed the convention talking about his focus on teaching students the skills they will need for the rest of their lives rather than tests at the end of the year.