A 5 On Your Side Original takes us to St. Margaret of Scotland School in south St. Louis. On Friday, the school showed our Ryan Dean their newest playground attraction.
Competition among friends during a recess football game is not the only thing heating up on the playground.
On hot days, the sun is the biggest opponent out there.
"Our playground is primarily blacktop, it can easily hit 100 degrees out here when it is not even 100 degrees in St. Louis," said school principal Juliann DePalma Hesed.
Parents have been working for years on improving the playground for students. One of the changes they wanted to make was to add shade to the area.
A parent who was very interested in getting shade to students was Dr. M. Laurin Council. She's a mother of five and a dermatologist. She knows the dangers of too much sun.
"My hope is we instill some good habits in kids now about protecting their skin from the sun, then they won't have to deal with so many skin cancer issues in the future," Dr. Council said.
Dr. Council made a generous donation to get a shade structure on the playground. It's been a hit with students, including her daughter.
"it's really nice because you can just sit here and hang out. it's really useful," said sixth-grader Claire Council.
"They enjoy being outdoors and I enjoy knowing they are safe when they are playing outside," said Dr. Council.
Dr. Council is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology. The academy started a shade program in 2000 with the goal of getting shade structures on school playgrounds.
While the shade structure at St. Margaret was paid for by donation, AAD does offer grants up to $8,000 to help schools and nonprofits afford the shade.
"We are just so thankful to the American Academy of Dermatology...we love to be outside now the students can do that with our new shade structure," said Hesed.
