Community unites for new Ansley playground
Jacquot has her eyes on breaking records for the Coyotes
ANSLEY - The community of Ansley knows how to rally around and make something happen. That is raising funds and putting up new playground equipment at the Lake Park in Ansley.
“Ansley is a community that is about community improvement and involvement,” Kiley Miller, a member of the Spartan Foundation, said. “With this playground project so many came together to make this project a success and it just shows how great our community is.
Miller said it is great to see improvements that happened in the past year. “The park is such a great place for our community,” she said. “I look forward to seeing the growth continue in Ansley and I’m so happy to not only be a part of this community but to work in a business in this community.”
When families are at the football field, children now have a safe area to go and play. New is a swing set, merry-go-round and bouncy toy that joined the slide already there, completing the new playground.
The project included a $6,000 grant from the Custer County Foundation; $1,392 grant from the American Playground Company; and $1,680 grant from the Spartan Foundation along with donations from many area businesses and individuals. Numerous volunteers donated over 80+ hours of time getting the area prepped and the equipment installed.
Heidi Beaumont got involved starting as a mentor for the Ansley CAPABLE program. One thing led to another, but with the onset of COVID, many community projects were shut down. Wanting to move forward with the original project, Beaumont started checking out costs of playground equipment. Working with the American Playground Company, the representative was informative and directed Beaumont in applying for grant monies to help pay for the equipment.
Not wanting the project to halt because of COVID, both Heidi and husband Brian just dug in to prep the site and installed the equipment that the community can now enjoy for several years to come.
Lindsay Cook, Executive director of the Custer County Foundation said, “The Custer County Foundation is excited to be able to assist Ansley with upgrades to their playground. The improvements will provide a safe place for children to play.”
Ansley Schools Superintendent Gordon Goodman stated he was “pleased to see this, so the kids have a place to play with an actual playground.”
Not being wasteful, the Ansley community donated the old swing set to the Village of Mason City for one of the parks there that had no playground equipment.
Space is available for future additions through currently sod will be installed. But if there is another piece of fun equipment that can be funded and installed, the children of Ansley will have another option to have many fun years for playing and making memories with friends.
BROKEN BOW - Last season Kaitlyn Jacquot was able to pull down more rebounds in a season for Anselmo-Merna than any girl in school history with 235 and 10.2 a game. This season she has her eyes set on breaking more rebounding records and helping her team get over the hump and make it to state for the first time since 2006.
“Really that was my main goal the whole year and I was determined to achieve it,” Jacquot said. “My goals this season is to break the game rebound record and I also want to help push my team to state, because we were so close last year.”
Close indeed were the Coyotes who fell 39-35 in the D2-7 District Final to the Sterling Jets. It was a game A-M led most of the way, but a four-point fourth quarter was too much to overcome.
In that contest, Jacquot had two points and seven total rebounds. Moving forward she wants her and the team to be more consistent and to not fold under pressure.
“We definitely have to learn how to finish,” Jacquot said. “We were up that entire game, but we need to learn to push till the end no matter the circumstances. I think that will be a really big thing for us to accomplish this year.”
Another huge obstacle this season is the team’s move up from Class D2 to Class D1. They also lost some great senior leadership in Alexis Zimmer.
“We did lose some great leadership and the seniors last year were amazing, but I definitely think we can step up to the challenge,” Jacquot said. I like the way we have been practicing so far and I see good things coming out of this season for us.”
They will be competing in a Sub-District with Ansley-Litchfield, Maxwell, and Sandhills Valley. The only one of those three schools with a winning record last year was Maxwell.
Heading into this season, Jacquot is the second leading scorer back with 7.7 points per game, behind Jade Chandler. She also finished third on the team in steals with 1.8 per game and led every major rebounding category.
For her work, she was awarded Honorable-Mention All-State in Class D2 in both the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World-Herald.
This season Jacquot not only looks to improve her rebounding and become a more explosive scorer, but she also wants to better her free-throw shooting.
“I definitely want to try and improve my free throw percentage this season,” Jacquot said. “That is one thing for sure that can help me be a more dynamic player for my team.”
After high school, Jacquot looks to continue playing sports in college. She hopes to compete in track and field, possibly at Doane.
In terms of a major, she is undecided between two career paths. She either wants to be a Psychologist or get into social work.