Hopkins, Minnesota — At Glen Lake Elementary, recess time is a blessing in many ways. On the one hand, we have a lot of work to do. But on the other hand, not everyone can do it.
There are many disabled students at Glen Lake, but it wasn’t the wheelchair carousels, swings and adaptive playground equipment that really bothered the kids in Betsy Julian’s 5th grade class.
“It didn’t seem fair that some kids were just being left behind,” said Wyatt Feucht.
“And it’s really sad to see other kids go through that,” Me’Ayila Priere said.
“They didn’t look happy. Downtime is for fun,” added Rhys Riley.
One day, the students asked Julian why they couldn’t buy the equipment themselves.
“I said, ‘Do you know how much that costs?! It costs a lot of money,'” Julian said: about $300,000 by her estimate.
The students were unfazed. They started collecting spare change, held bake sales, printed flyers, and went door to door. They then started a soliciting phone business and had restaurants donate a portion of their profits. This went on for months — until last week when I finally reached my goal with the help of the Glenlake Parent-Teacher Organization.
Riley says he was overwhelmed to learn that their hard work ultimately led to a more inclusive playground. As for the children who benefited, they seemed to value the effort more than the result.
“When you first step onto this playground, you’re going to cry at the effort of the whole school,” said wheelchair-bound John Buettner.
Julian couldn’t agree.
“My future as an adult is bright. Students, the changemakers of this generation, see what needs fixing and go for it first,” she said.
After raising $300,000, her class set a new goal. They now want to purchase adaptive play equipment for other schools in the district.
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Steve Hartman
