The Kindergarten and Grade 1 and 2 students from Rockwood Centennial Public School gathered on Oct. 6 to officially open a playground in memory of former student Jenna Bennett.
Jenna’s father Craig said she loved to enjoy playgrounds, laugh and run.
In 2014, Jenna was diagnosed with MLD (Metachomatic Leuko-dystrophy), a genetic disease that attacks cognition and peripheral function, such as the ability to walk, talk and eat.
In May, just one week shy of her 7th birthday, Jenna passed away.
“She was an energetic, vivacious, spontaneous, very independent girl and she loved to swim, she loved to bicycle, she loved to play on playgrounds,” said Craig.
“We decided that we would like to build a playground in her honour.”
Craig, Jenna’s mother Yvonne and Jenna’s brother Aidan, with the help of community members, raised $20,000 for a new playground.
Craig explained to the students what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving.
“When I think about the past year, the past couple of years, I just remember coming into school so many times and all of you who were in Grade 2 and Grade 1 or in SK, you were in this playground and you were rolling in the leaves and running around and I just remember Jenna laughing and having so much fun with all of you,” he said.
“So I am thankful for that, for all of you being such good friends.”
He added, “I’m also thankful to your parents and to Rockwood and to the surrounding area because all of those people helped make this playground possible.
“Every time I come here now and I see you guys running up and down and playing on the playground, I’m going to think about how much fun you’re having and I’m going to think about Jenna too, because it will remind me of Jenna in my heart.”
Jenna’s brother Aidan, who’s in Grade 6 at Rockwood Centennial, also spoke at the ceremony.
“A few days after Jenna died … one of my friends asked me, ‘Do you ever miss Jenna? Is it ever lonely around the house?’ And to this day I still feel lonely,” he said.
“And then a few months later at school someone asked me, ‘Do you ever feel lonely at school?’ And I said, ‘How could I? I have the Grade 1s, the Grade 2s, the kindergarteners.’”
Aidan spent $100 on toys for the sandbox after seeing many of the current toys were in rough shape.
Yvonne explained Aidan spends a lot of time with the kindergarteners, in memory of Jenna.
Principal Lisa Doering thanked the family and said, “Jenna’s playground will be a place of friendship, learning and loving for the Rockwood Centennial community.
“This place will serve as an ongoing tribute to a very special young girl named Jenna Bennett.”
Tracey Darling, kindergarten teacher at Rockwood Centennial, said staff and students will remember Jenna “for years and years and years to come.”
