Fairfield girl with Down syndrome gets ‘Ninja Warrior’ playground

It didn’t take long for 2-year-old Grace Kozlowski to transform into Ninja warrior mode at first glimpse of her personalized playground built by Hamilton High School students.

Grace, who lives with Down syndrome, giggled and immediately started to scramble over the brightly colored “Ninja Warrior Course” laid out in the Career Technical Education (CTE) garage.

As she happily explored the wooden playground features, all of which were built by CTE students and other volunteers, her mother teared up watching and she wasn’t alone.

“Our little dream has become a reality and it’s amazing,” said Kozlowski, whose family lives in Fairfield.

“And today is World Down Syndrome Day, so they couldn’t have picked a better day to do this,” she said.

Grace loves watching the TV show “American Ninja Warrior,” where adult athletes compete against one another on an elaborately designed obstacle course.

With the help of Dave Glock Jr., founder of the local Caring Craftsman organization — and volunteers of the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities — the Hamilton students were guided in constructing the scaled-down course appropriate for Grace and her special physical needs.

About $500 of wood, paint and other materials were donated — as was the labor — for Grace’s gift.

Hers is a personalized playground with the words “Amazing Grace” carved and painted into a large, interactive board that is part of an A-frame cover for a large portion of plastic pipe that Grace can crawl through.

Etched into one of the first obstacles is a family-requested Biblical inscription to inspire her in future years: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The entire course will soon be transported by CTE to Grace’s backyard.

“All of this is designed to help Grace build muscle control,” said Tim Carpenter, instructor for the CTE Construction Technologies class. “This (class project) is going to go to someone who is actually going to use it and play with it. A lot of this is bigger than what she can use now, but she will be able to grow into it and continue to use it.”

Hamilton High School senior Dylin Hubbard said of all the class projects, this one was special because of its recipient.

“I do watch (“American Ninja Warrior”) … so I had some good ideas for this one and since it’s for Grace — and she has some limitations — there were guidelines we had to follow” to match her skill level, Hubbard said.

Glock watched Grace play through watery eyes.

“Her smile is wonderful,” he said. “But her giggles are infectious.”

Download the free Journal-News app, Butler County’s #1 source for local news

About the Author