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| DELANO, MN – FEB 10, 2023: (L-R)Glen Lake Elementary Principal Jeff Radel (R); Caleigh Brace, 5th grade; Hadley Mangan, 6th grade; Raqiya Haji, 5th grade; Betsy Julien, teacher; and John Buettner, 5th grade (front) pose for a portrait during a tour to Landscape Structures in Delano, MN. The pupils led a group of elementary school children from Betsy Julien's class in raising $300,000 to design and build a new inclusive and fully accessible playground at their school. (NPR's |
Meanwhile, Betsy Julien would eat lunch and glance out her classroom window at the students in wheelchairs, thinking, "Our playground is not set up for everyone in the school to play and have fun."
Julien's own son is a third-grader at Glen Lake, in the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins, and he uses a wheelchair, too. "So, this dream and passion of being able to have an accessible piece of equipment has been with me for a long time."
Now, thanks to this teacher and her students, that dream is about to come true in a bigger way than she ever imagined.
Last fall, Julien and a few of her colleagues applied for, and won, a grant for an accessible swing and merry-go-round. The grant fell $35,000 short of the amount the school needed, and so Julien came up with an idea: She asked her combined fifth- and sixth-grade class to help raise the rest.
Her students jumped at the idea, and took it a step further. "We were like, 'Why can't we make the whole playground accessible?' " says sixth-grader Hadley Mangan. "It was $300,000, which is a lot, but we knew we could do it." The next day, they launched a fundraiser online.
The kids then got to work. They discussed several fundraising methods, such as door-knocking, collaborating with eateries, handing out fliers, and even cold-calling local businesses. "It's a lot of work," adds Raqiya Haji, a sixth-grader, "because you have to prepare a script and see if people want to donate to us."
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| DELANO, MN - FEB 10, 2023: Fifth and sixth grade children from Glen Lake Elementary School in Hopkins, MN, examine concrete playground ideas during a visit to Landscape Structures in Delano, MN to learn how playgrounds are designed and created. Betsy Julien's class of elementary school students raised $300,000 to design and build a new inclusive and completely accessible playground at their school. (NPR's Caroline Yang) |
All of the pupils agree that the effort was worthwhile. "If this hadn't happened," Mangan says, "the students with impairments wouldn't have as much fun at recess," but "I think they're going to be very pleased because of our concept."
Julien's class met their $300,000 goal in a matter of weeks and has since boosted it twice. They are now attempting to raise $1 million in order to completely renovate their playground. Whatever they raise above their target will go toward accessible equipment at other schools, "because if they see us doing this, they'll want a playground, too," Haji says.
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| DELANO, MN - FEB 10, 2023: John Buettner (center), a 5th grader at Glen Lake Elementary School in Hopkins, MN, speaks to his friends on the bus while visiting Landscape Structures to see how playgrounds are designed and built. Buettner has help lead an effort by students from Betsy Julien's class to raise $300,000 to get a new inclusive and fully accessible playground designed and built at their school. (Caroline Yang for NPR) |
Julien and Glen Lake Principal Jeff Radel packed the youngsters into two school buses last week for a field trip to the manufacturing plant that will turn their playground into a reality. Students were able to examine how the equipment is constructed and even color in a schematic of the playground design.
Caleigh Brace, a fifth-grader, is particularly enthused about the wheelchair-accessible zipline. Raqiya Haji is excited to see the merry-go-round, which will be placed along with a swing this summer.
Jo returned home after the field excursion.
After the field trip, John Buettner can't believe how quickly an idea became a reality. "I'm amazed," he adds, becoming emotional as he discusses the effort his students and the entire town have put into this initiative.
While he may not be able to utilize the monkey bars, he believes the new playground will provide many opportunities: "This entire set is large enough for my buddies and I to play on. I just have a sense of capability."
Betsy Julien, too, sheds tears as she focuses on the project and envisions the playground's change after the construction is completed a year from now.
"My heart simply overflows with pride as a teacher and a mom," she says. "When you have a special needs child, you have many aspirations and plans for their future. You wish for the world to be nice, tolerant, and inclusive of your child."
