Local students building ADA swing for local park

SANDPOINT — Jessica and Patrick Rachels have spent the past couple years advocating for awareness of the cytomegalovirus at the state level.

The Kootenai couple’s latest project, however, is closer to home as an ADA swing — built by three Sandpoint High School welding students — will be installed at McNearney Park in Ponderay in the spring.

“I love doing this project,” said SHS senior Garrett Bamer. “I like it because it’s more technical, because it’s got moving parts, which isn’t something you normally do in welding.”

Bamer, along with SHS seniors Aiden Ackerman and Nick Kempton, have been building the swing since the beginning of the school year and, while it won’t be installed until the ground thaws, are about a month away from completing the swing.

“I think all the projects we do in here are pretty cool,” Ackerman said. “We get projects from all around the community.”

With a large platform and a folding ramp, the wheelchair-accessible swing will allow children with disabilities to be included in play at the park. The Rachels’ daughter, Natalie, was born with disabilities after her mother unknowingly contracted CMV while she was pregnant. For this reason, the Rachels have been advocating for awareness of the disease. Also, as members of the Ponderay Parks and Tree Committee, Patrick Rachels said his wife had been looking into the idea of an ADA swing because none of the parks in the area have one. She started asking around, and a friend overseas mentioned the swing that was at a park where they lived, found the plans and sent them over.

Then it was a matter of finding funding, Rachels said. While they are still shy of full funding, he said the Rotary Club of Ponderay and Jacey’s Race have helped out with the money for materials and, of course, the students are providing the labor.

“It’s definitely been a community effort,” Rachels said.

SHS welding teacher Jake Stark gave the team the plans for a wooden swing at the beginning of the year, which created the biggest challenge. Ackerman said re-designing the swing from the original wooden specs and converting most of the design to metal was no easy feat.

The massive structure is 11-and-a-half feet tall, and is seven-feet by just over 11-feet in width, Bamer said. Once, installed, it won’t be quite as large because the frame will be cemented into the ground at the park.

Bamer and Ackerman couldn’t guess how much the swing weighs, but it is definitely heavy, they said. The heavy duty metal will far outlast a wooden swing, though, Stark said. The platform and ramp are made of wood and, as of Wednesday, the team was getting ready to put a roof on it. Another challenge will be getting it to the park in the spring, they said, but some of the parts can be removed from the frame and reattached on site.

Rachels said when the students were handed the project in the fall, they “grabbed the bull by the horns and took off with it.”

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It gives them an opportunity to do something for the community that, chances are, will last for a long time — something to look back on.”

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.