New playground planned to honor Hannah Crutchfield, 7-year-old killed in Irvington crash
Hannah Crutchfield wasn’t at George Julian School 57 very long. The 7-year-old was only a month-and-a-half into her time as a student there when she was killed in a traffic crash last September.
But the playground? Hannah and playground went way back.
She’d been playing on that playground for years before she started going to school at George Julian in Irvington, running across the mulch and swinging from the monkey bars as she waited for her older sister, Charlotte, to get out of school.
And when she started going to school there as a first-grader, it meant Hannah had even more time to spend on it.
That time was tragically cut short on Sept. 14 when Hannah and Charlotte, a fourth-grader, were walking home from school with their mom, Cassandra Crutchfield — just like they did every day. A car crash, which police say was sparked by a road rage incident, sent a vehicle careening into the intersection the family was crossing with the help of a crossing guard.
Hannah was killed. Cassandra Crutchfield was injured, as was the crossing guard, Michael Sykes, who was 41 at the time of the crash. Charlotte was uninjured.
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The calamity not only devastated the Crutchfield family, but shook the entire George Julian school community. In the days and weeks that followed, people started reaching out to Michelle Pleasant, head of the school’s PTSA, looking for ways to help support the family, school and students.
“I went to some of the staff and said, ‘What do we need?’” Pleasant said. “Everybody was still in a state of confusion and shock.”
Charlotte and some of her classmates had an idea. What if they could fix up the school’s two aging playgrounds in honor of Hannah?
“This was the students’ idea,” Pleasant said. “It’s their friend that they want to honor, so we’re going to do whatever we can to make that happen for them.”
The PTSA needs to raise $200,000 in order to purchase new equipment for both of the school’s playgrounds. So far, they’ve raised nearly $60,000. Details on how to contribute online or by mail are on their website, www.ipsfund.org/honorhannah.
They’re hoping to have the entire goal raised by the start of the new school year, so the equipment can be ordered and installed for kids this fall.
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The old equipment, which they believe dates back to the school’s last renovation in 2008, will be hauled off and the mulch replaced by Indianapolis Public Schools. Then, bright murals can be painted on the fences and walls around the spaces and new equipment can be installed. The students voted on colors for the equipment and chose blue and yellow — bright colors, something Hannah would have liked.
Bright colors, animals, bugs and outdoor adventures were some of Hannah’s favorite things, said Cassandra Crutchfield.
“She was a very fun spirit,” Crutchfield said. “She liked to be outside, she liked to climb trees and pick up bugs. She would be the one that would go find the cicada and pick it up and run around and show all her friends.
“She was fun. She was a fun girl to be around.”
The PTSA has involved the students in the design of the new spaces. Pleasant, whose daughter was in Hannah’s class, said they started by asking the students to draw what they’d like to see.
“We just gave them a blank canvas,” she said. “They came up with some… very, very creative ideas.”
Some requests were beyond the scope of what the PTSA can deliver — there will not be a pet shop or large mountains, for example — but they will make good on wishes for new slides and equipment that appeals to some of the K-8 school’s older students and create a space that honors Hannah’s memory.
Crutchfield said Hannah would have loved the bright colors they have planned for the space. She was always choosing bright colors and mismatching patterns to wear to school. Hannah’s teacher told Crutchfield that her daughter was a leader on the playground, coming up with the games that all the kids would play.
“I think this is perfect,” Crutchfield said. “She loved to play. She loved to climb.”
There was a minute, Crutchfield said, after Hannah died that their family discussed whether they should switch schools. Ultimately, though, they decided to stay. Crutchfield said the school feels like family to them.
And, she said, she’s looking forward to watching Charlotte play on the new playground before they walk home from school — just like they still do every day.
Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-201-5620 or email her at Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Hannah Crutchfield, student killed in crash, honored with playground
