​The Playful Places project was initially inspired by one of our students. Leila, during her time at Evergreen, has helped us to implement accessible infrastructure, while teaching us the importance of empathy and inclusion. The design was born from a desire to provide not just accessibility but to imbed inclusion into our physical space, a place where all members of our school and greater community could gather to learn and play. ​As a former Evergreen parent, Guild President Chris Koehn, could see that a partnership between Evergreen and the TFG was a natural fit. The TFG shares the value that community is at the heart of what we do, it provides the opportunity to build relationships on a foundation of shared experience, working towards a common goal, learning new skills and giving back to the greater community. ​At Evergreen we understand that the best learning happens when we are given an equal opportunity to access that learning and we are in a safe learning space. The lead instructor on the project, Kieran McLaury, understood the scope of this project, and brought those values to the build ensuring that all volunteers regardless of ability or experience were given the opportunity to gain new skills. We are very excited to welcome our students back to school in September when they will be able to explore all of the new spaces,  gaining a new perspective from the upper platform and learning in their tree house classroom. The staff, students and parents of Evergreen would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the TFG members and their families who participated in the project and brought this dream to fruition.   ​*This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Enabling Accessibility fund.