A white sheet lies blank and inviting on the floor. At 2:00 pm, kids start to crowd excitedly around it, armed with paintbrushes and buckets. By 2:15 pm, it is glistening with reds, oranges, yellows, indigoes, blues, and violets. The end product, inspired by Jackson Pollock, the artist of the day,  is complete. Earlier in the week, Parker PMers and their instructors discussed Salvador Dali and Georgia O’Keefe as a part of “Artists” week in room 126.

At Parker PM, Parker’s after-school program for students in JK-5th Grade, lower and intermediate school students whose families opt for the program can spend up until 6:00 PM playing in the designated “Parker PM room.” Parker PM is run by Director Stacie Newmark, as well as two full-time teachers, Liz MacGilpin and Anne DaSilva, and four part-time teachers: Emily Radke, Barb Tracy, Katrina Briscoe, and Mark Piebenga, who is also a JK teacher.

On any given day, approximately 25 to 35 JK/SKers attend Parker PM from 11:45-3:10. Then the number grows to 55 to 65 JK-5th graders every day from 3:10pm-6pm, and there are usually 2-10 additional drop-in students, according to Newmark.

Parker PM provides various organized activities as well as plenty of free time, in which students are “encouraged to meet people outside of their own classes and grades, and move around the room and discover their talents and passions,” Newmark said.

At Parker PM, this free time is called “Choice Time,” JKer Rose Hillenbrand said recently, while jumping up and down in her striped pink shirt and solid pink sweatpants. Hillenbrand thinks “Choice Time” is her favorite part of the day. “I come to Parker PM every single day, and my favorite thing to do is play in the castle during choice time,” Hillenbrand said. “There is nothing like the castle anywhere else in the school–I love playing in it and pretending to be a princess from far, far away.”

According to Newmark, having  “Choice Time” as well as organized activities is really what makes Parker PM, Parker PM. “I think Parker PM is so popular because we not only give kids an opportunity to play and have independent fun, but they also learn by doing,” Newmark said.  “We plan a variety of fun activities, often revolving around a theme, which the students love.”

Fifth grader Natalie Drake, who has been attending Parker PM since her JK year, is a fan. “I love the way Parker PM is set up for us… My mom is a single mom, and she works in Des Plaines, so the fact that I can come here is really helpful for my family,” Drake said, having just returned from getting a book recommendation from one of the Parker PM instructors. “I come to Parker PM at least two times a week, and it’s always fun. I love Parker PM and Parker PLUS.”

Newmark said, “Parker PLUS is a series of after school classes that run by session, and include things like improv, shop, hockey, chess, coding, and judo.”

Helping out families is exactly the mission and purpose of Parker PM, according to Newmark. “The idea of Parker PM is to give families a fun, stimulating place to send their children after school,” she said. “There are many working and busy parents these days, and we’re really here for the parents to take advantage of. You can be a drop-in or come regularly. The JK/SK school day ends at 11:45, and lots of parents are unable to pick up at that time.”

Although Parker PM is nearing its 30th anniversary, it has only recently become a possibility for “Parker PMers” to have the kind of play the program is known for. “I was an assistant teacher here at Parker when I started to work on developing Parker PM,” Newmark said. “When Parker PM started, we were located in the small cafe, which was then a tiny, windowless room with wooden doors. We would bring art supplies and snacks in and out.  It was only about ten years ago that we secured this wonderful space.”

The space, which houses JK through third grade, is a part of the appeal for SKer Davis Kins. “I think that this room is so cool,” Kins said. “This is my first time here.  There’s a castle, a stage, a dollhouse, and a coloring table. And there’s so many games! My favorite is the Linkin Logs. All of my friends told me that Parker PM was super fun, and now I know!”

The space is not the only aspect of Parker PM that has come a long way over the years. The number of students that participate has increased, as well as the staff.

When not attending a Parker PLUS class, the intermediate school Parker PM students can be found in the lower school art room, or the “AKL” (Awesome Kids Lounge), created by a group of former fourth graders when room 126 started to overcrowd. Graduating to the AKL is a sort of rite of passage, fifth grader Maggie McPharlin said, without looking up from her detailed drawing of the room. “I remember being in second Grade and desperately wanting to come up here with the older kids,” McPharlin said, “so it’s awesome to be at the top and watch the second graders now begging to follow me into the AKL.”

The AKL has an entirely different feel from when it is being used as an art room, McPharlin said. Art and activity supplies are wheeled in every day in a giant, magnetic cupboard, which reveals surprises every day. The cupboard is so overflowing with paintings and drawings, some by McPharlin herself, that it is nearly impossible to see its grey, magnetic surface underneath. Upon its opening, markers and a couple pieces of colored construction paper fall out onto the floor.

According to Newmark, Parker PM strives to be a learning experience. Her hope is that students remember what they learn from the time they spend at Parker PM–and come back to visit in the future. “Many students come back and visit every so often, and that warms my heart,” Newmark said. “It shows that the experiences kids have in Parker PM stay with them well into their high school years. We really want Parker PM to be a happy place for kids to feel connected and have fun.”

Sophomore Felicia Miller, for one, looks back fondly in this way.  “I went to Parker PM all the way from JK to fifth grade, and I loved every minute of it,” Miller said. “In fact, I met one of my best friends there–we used to play in the castle together every afternoon. The old one was falling apart, so they’ve replaced it now. I’ve been back with that friend a couple times recently, and I love how the room looks almost the same as when we were spending our afternoons there. I also think it’s cool we’re still best friends more than 10 years later.”