Last Thursday there were two stars of the show at a Cornwall Central School District ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Cornwall Elementary School playground.

The first star – as declared by State Senator James Skoufis – was CES fourth grader Kira Hansen. The second star was the school’s brand-new inclusive play area.

The story: In the fall of 2024, the Cornwall Central School District was awarded a $165,000 grant from Senator Skoufis’ office for an ADA playground at CES.

“The grant process is rather long and involved,” CCSD Assistant Superintendent for Business John Fink said. “However, we were able to break ground on this project at the beginning of July, and the playground is now ready for the start of the school year. We are extremely excited about this new addition and very grateful to the senator’s office for making this happen.”

The timing could not be more perfect – fourth grader Kira, who is wheelchair bound, is ready to play!

Fink hosted the ceremony, which featured several dozen members of the Cornwall Elementary staff and faculty, Buildings & Grounds Department workers, school administrators and others.

“This is an incredibly special day for our community, for our students here at CES, and for the larger message of inclusion,” Argenio said. “We have a beautiful playground here, as you can see. We all know that childhood memories are made on playgrounds, and for a long time, not all of our children have been able to engage in that. So, we are very proud that we now have a beautiful adaptive playground for all of our children to make those memories and play side by side with their peers - to laugh and have fun.”

She thanked Fink and the district’s business office, as well as the staff at Senator Skoufis’ office for working together on all the paperwork that goes on behind the scenes.

“So today, we can’t wait to cut the ribbon and make it official,” Argenio continued. “Kira informed us she is ready.”

Skoufis congratulated Kira.

“You’re the inspiration for this playground,” he said, asking for a round of applause for the student, who has been at the school for several years. “This is really such a wonderful occasion because every single child, period, deserves to be able to enjoy recess and play time and recreation while they’re at school, regardless of any circumstance involving that child.”

He continued: “It’s socialization, its recess, and every study shows, and anyone with any experience knows, that kids do better in the building when they have play time. Now everybody can have that experience to his fullest, here at Cornwall Elementary School.”

The senator, who said his daughter just started kindergarten at CES, made sure to note that it wasn’t his personal money that built the new section of the playground.

“It’s not my checkbook that I pulled out and wrote a check from,” he said. “This is your money. You send a lot of tax dollars to Albany, one of my jobs, one of my central jobs, is to try and bring back as much of your money as possible to worthwhile projects like this one.”

Once the dignitaries stopped speaking and the ribbon was cut, it wasn’t but a minute until Kira rolled her way up onto the new piece of equipment. She made some music, enjoyed a ‘ride on’ area of it, along with several other school students who, like Kira, will enjoy the options it offers.

As Kira played, members of the school’s kitchen staff passed out ice pops and cups of fruit salad to all who attended – making it the perfect late-summer afternoon on Lee Road.