b'IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITYTHROUGHINNOVATIVEIDEASIn June 2021, students in Angela Kuhnles Grade 3/4 class at Highbury School won more than $6,000 for accessibility upgrades for the school as part ofManitoba Possibles MPower: Manitobas Accessibility Challenge. The project encourages youth to learn about accessibility and develop innovative ideas to create solutions. After reading the book Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, because children engage in perspective taking, in activism and in Kuhnle found that her students were engaged in learningplanning for the future of their community. about the many types of barriers discussed in the book. She took students on a community walk to look for barriers inOn June 3, representatives from Manitoba Possible surprised the their community. Students were then put into five groups tostudents by joining their morning meeting on Microsoft Teams brainstorm projects for improvement.and sharing the exciting news. The projects submitted included two play structure redesigns, When I found out I was on the edge of my chair and I wanted a washroom and water fountain renovation, and ways to breakto jump up and cheer, said Kaitlyn Bray, a grade 4 student a down attitudinal barriers and improve inclusion at HighburyHighbury School. It meant a lot and I think the school could use School. Students searched playground catalogues, reada little bit more improvements. It is huge that we were able to accessibility requirement documents, measured water fountains,accomplish this.and even found videos of guest speakers they would want to invite to speak to their peers. We looked at the heights of things and if they were able to be used by somebody who was in a wheelchair or blind or deaf,and if it wasnt, we would want to change that, said Ava Smart,a grade 4 student at Highbury School.This kind of project is so important Their projects, collectively, were selected to receive one of twobecause children engage in perspective $5,000 awards to be used toward accessibility improvements taking, in activism and in planning for or products for the school. Each project was also awarded a $250 participation prize, bringing the grand total to $6,250 forthe future of their community.Highbury School. ANGELA KUHNLEI am so proud of my students, they went above and beyond inTeacher at Highbury Schooltheir research, and I feel they truly understood the purpose of this project, said Kuhnle. This kind of project is so important 29'