IVINS, Utah — We found a teen in Ivins who is standing up for those who may not be able to stand up for themselves.
Snow Canyon High School student Ollie Robertson is also in her second year as part of the Ivins Youth Council, a group formed three years ago as a junior version of the regular city council.
"We help organize a lot of the events that the city council would already be sponsoring but more focused on getting a youth demographic involved in," Robertson explained.
Robertson doesn’t have future political aspirations but wants to be involved in the community and include others and saw an opportunity in a sandpit next to the playground at UNITY Park.
"I do really like the idea of a more inclusive Ivins. This is literally called UNITY Park," she explained.
UNITY is in all caps. It stands for Uniting Neighbors of Ivins Together Year-Round.
"It's called UNITY Park for a reason, to bring everyone in Ivins together, and everyone sometimes includes people with disabilities," Ollie explained. "It's a little unfair that they don't have a swing set."
A swing set?
"What the swing set would actually have would be maybe a platform for children in wheelchairs, and they could swing back and forth on that," she said.
There are also plans for what's called a generational swing so parents can swing with their children.
In the case of an ADA-compliant swing set at Sandown Park in St. George, the inclusivity is in the fact that a child can be in the seat with someone swinging alongside.
"[Ollie] came up with this idea a year ago. And the stumbling block was the cost," said Ivins City Councilmember Mike Scott.
To be exact... $77,000. But this month, Ollie and the rest of the youth council went around the community to raise at least half the money.
"What we found last fall is there would be an opportunity for a grant that could match 50% of it," Scott explained.
The member of the "grown up" city council says the junior version may get things done better than the adults.
"All the things that they jump in to do, they succeed at all of them," Scott said. "I had no idea how rewarding it would be to see all the things that they're doing … the thoughtfulness, the inquisitiveness of this group is really inspiring."
CLICK HERE if you'd like to donate to the ADA-accessible swing set in UNITY Park.
