Gone are the days of muddy post-recess shoes and sticker-covered socks for students of Walnut Grove Elementary School (WGES). Thanks to the tireless efforts of the WGES Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO), these lucky kids returned to start the 2024-2025 school year with a new playground-adjacent attraction: a brand-new turf field.
Southlake Carroll’s PTOs are well known for their ability to corral generous community support to benefit the district’s students’ needs, ranging from athletics and bus transportation to classroom renovation and instruction materials.
This past spring, the WGES PTO held a casino-themed fundraiser with a silent auction, casino games and live auction that raised enough money from local community members and businesses to provide the school with an in-kind donation of $120,000 for the field’s construction.
“When we set out to do something a little different for our spring auction, I never imagined how big it was going to be. Our committee was fully dedicated to raising the funds for a new field and truly knocked it out of the park,” commented Wendy Home, 2023-24 PTO President. “The kids and teachers have raved about it since! We are so lucky to have amazing parents who do so much to support our school and PTO.”