Hard work really does pay off.

After months of fundraising efforts, the Calvin Leete Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Nov. 9 to celebrate the addition of a brand-new piece of equipment for the children to enjoy.

Various efforts by the PTO, community members, parents, students, and school staff raised $25,000 in order to purchase the web climber, an 18-foot rope structure.

"The web climber is a great play structure and a good first step in the project. You can see the feeling of empowerment on the children's faces as they scale the ropes to the peak," said Playground Co-Chair Nancy Cunningham. "Since installation, it has been in constant use by Calvin Leete students, soccer families using the fields, and people in town who heard about the unique piece of equipment. It is satisfying to know we have given our students a usable piece of equipment while adding something of value to our community and town center."

PTO Co-Presidents Pam Miller, Cunningham, and Christine Nizolek were in attendance at the ribbon-cutting last Friday, as were Leete Principal Nancy Bishop, Guilford Superintendent of Schools Paul Freeman, Director of Operations Cliff Gurnham, and Build Healthy Kids founder Dr. Deborah Kennedy.

The decision to revamp the playground was made due to its aging equipment and the large number of residents who utilize it. The total budget of this project is $150,000; it is split into three phases.

It took about five months to raise the $25,000 for the web climber, with the primary PTO fundraiser being a buy-a-brick initiative launched earlier this year. Seventy-seven customized bricks were sold to date and volunteers are still looking for more residents interested in purchasing a brick to be laid near the playground. So far, Miller said about $40,000 has been raised.

School leaders pointed out at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the most impressive part of this initiative is that students have jumped on board with fundraising efforts, raising almost $4,000 through various efforts, including manning lemonade stands, selling their own original art work, and even creating a neighborhood biweekly newspaper, The East River Courier.

"This is a very exciting day because you've all worked so hard," Bishop said to the 4th-grade students who raised money. "You had a dream to build a new playground and set a goal of raising money and you made it happen. I'm really proud of you today."

During the ceremony, Kennedy and physical education instructor Deborah Golembieski spoke to the students about the fitness benefits of the web climber. Golembieski said she's already incorporated the new piece of equipment into the curriculum.

The superintendent also congratulated the students on working hard and achieving their goal.

"What I really like about this is that this is coming from you, this is coming from your parents, and this is coming from your community. What I really like about the Guilford community and the Guilford schools is that everybody works together and does important things together," Freeman said to the children. "You chipped in to help yourselves with a gift, your parents worked hard in collecting donations to give you this gift, and your community came together, so it's not just the schools that bought this here for you; it's your community that did this, and that's really important and special."

With two more phases left for this project, more than $100,000 has to be raised. The goal is to have the project completed by June 2013. To purchase a brick (ranging from $125 to 1,000), call Miller at 203-829-4757 or visit www.calvinleetepto.com.