“This is nice,” 7-year-old Agnes “Aggie” Perry said as she approached the playground behind Harpswell Community School in her wheelchair, nicknamed “Go-Go.” “Now I won’t fall and get a bloody lip again.”
Aggie, a second grader at HCS, was there to watch a crew of volunteers from Mid Coast Paving and R.A. Webber & Sons build paved walkways to the school’s two playgrounds on Aug. 11. After hearing about Aggie’s dilemma from two of the school’s teachers, the two local contractors offered to install the walkways for free.
“Aggie has limited mobility in her legs,” special education teacher Michelle Lane explained in an interview. “She was going down the hill and her wheelchair got caught up on (a bump) and she took a little spill. Ever since then, she has been too afraid to go back up.”
The incident happened in fall 2024, when Aggie was in first grade. Lane — who also works at R.A. Webber, a Harpswell-based contractor — asked her co-workers if they would help install the walkways. They embraced the volunteer project right away.
Lane then sent a letter to Maine School Administrative District 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary and Facilities Director Shawn Johansen asking for their support. They had one request: that the walkways be paved.
That’s when local connections paid off a second time, according to Lane. Fourth grade teacher Amy Utecht reached out to her brother, Mid Coast Paving owner Ron Utecht, who happily agreed to have his company do the paving. The R.A. Webber crew agreed to design and dig trenches for the walkways and fill them with gravel.
The project was reviewed by the MSAD 75 Facilities Committee, then approved by the full school board. “It was a big team effort,” Lane said.
Kyle McPherson, a construction estimator with R.A. Webber, came to the school and met with Aggie and Lane to scope out the best paths, with additional help from a physical therapist who is well versed in Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
The project took several months to coordinate, but work began in August. McPherson said all the materials and labor were donated by the two contractors and their teams.
“They asked if we wanted to volunteer, and we were all happy to do it,” he said. “Everybody needs help sometimes.”
Lane said she hopes the new walkways will enable Aggie to enjoy the playgrounds again when she returns to school in September.
“Even if … going up the hill still causes her some anxiety, hopefully they will start to help alleviate some of that anxiety and make her feel more successful and more confident about exploring other parts of the school,” Lane said.
Early signs were promising. Watching the work in progress seemed to ease Aggie’s worries.
“I like that they have a little path, so I can get there more easily,” she said.
Aggie’s mother, Molly Perry, said she was thrilled to see the walkways being installed.
“Our family is just really grateful that there are people in the community willing to do things like this,” she said.
