DENVER — Every child should get to have fun on a playground. That's the idea behind the first-ever ADA-accessible and inclusive playground within Denver Public Schools.
The idea for the inclusive playground came from students at the Denver Center for International Studies (DCIS) at Fairmont. Two of the students who were the catalyst for the change are fifth graders Vivian Palmeri and Araya Gonzalez.
“For the past two years, we've been working on trying to get the crew to actually build it," said Palmeri.
The girls said they noticed other children with disabilities who could not play during recess, and it hurt their hearts.
"I think the idea came up when we went on a field trip, and they had inclusive playground materials. So we decided, 'Well, hey, that's a good idea,'" Palmeri said.
DCIS Fairmont Assistant Principal Meg Zimmerman said the students participate in Design for Change Week, which serves as a problem-solving experience for students.
“Students research a topic, and they think of a problem within that topic and create a solution surrounding that," Zimmerman explained. “They decided that it was a problem that our students didn't have an inclusive place to play. So when they would come out and do recess with our center program students, they couldn't play much with them because our other playground has wood chips on it, and wheelchairs cannot go on wood chips.”
A group of students worked with the architects and contractors to design the portion of the playground that is ADA accessible. They also came up with the idea for an archway adorned with butterflies drawn by elementary school students.
Monarchs are the mascot for DCIS Fairmont. The butterfly drawings were then taken to older students in a welding class at the Fred N. Thomas Career Education Center Early College of Denver (CEC).
"We just got drawings from the actual kids, and we just try to trace them down as accurately to a piece of aluminum," said Gerardo Gracia, one of the students who helped bring the butterfly drawings to life. “Pretty cool to be part of a project that's so inclusive, trying to make sure it's equal for everyone.”
Garcia said welding is his favorite class and gives him real-world experience while at school. He took great care in making sure the welded butterflies looked as similar as possible to the drawings from the younger students.
“It makes it unique to the kid. So, if the kid were to walk up, it would show that they made it and it'd be something personal to them," Gracia said.
Zimmerman said this student-led project is representative of their mission at DCIS Fairmont.
"It's everything that aligns with our mission and what we want our students to do, which is advocating for their worlds, making sure we live in a place where everyone's included, and everyone, specifically in this incident, can play and have fun," said Zimmerman.
For Palmeri, watching students with disabilities smile on the playground is all she ever wanted.
“This taught us that everybody can play, no matter their differences," Palmeri said.
The ADA-accessible playground was funded by money raised through the 2020 voter-approved bond measure.
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