When Rosili Olson saw plans for the new playground near her home last year, she realized her little sisters, Airis and Addy, would struggle climbing on all the ropes. So the 11-year-old Clearfield resident drew up designs for a new playground that would accommodate younger kids. She decided to ask city officials if they could use her design instead. 

Her mom, Annie Olson, called Eric Howes, Clearfield community services director, and asked if he would meet with Rosili to review her playground ideas. She just wanted her daughter to experience talking with city leaders but Olson could never have imagined what happened next.

Howes was impressed with Rosili's thought process and wanted to make her design a reality. He told her they had already ordered the playground equipment for the park near her home, but they had plans to add a playground at Bicentennial Park (931 E. 600 South). 

“Rosalie had seen that there was something she didn’t like and so she drew all of those drawings and came to talk to somebody about it,” Howes said. “We went through all the details of what would make a good playground for her and her sisters.”

Using her drawings, Howes invited Rosili to become part of the design process for the new park. He reached out to Taft Egan, an engineer with Big T Recreation, and asked if he could bring Rosili’s park to life.

“She met with Eric and did a bunch of meetings,” Olson said. “They educated her about taxes and the budget, and made sure things were up to code. They educated her on all that stuff and they went through the whole process together.”

Rosili learned about compromise, teamwork, park safety regulations, city procedures, tax dollars and collaboration. In less than a year, the park was completed. The city held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 24 to officially introduce Rosili’s park to the public.

Rosili, a seventh-grade student at North Davis Junior High School, was excited to go through the steps she needed to take with the city to make a place that kids of all ages can enjoy. 

“I wanted everything to fit the park and look good with the park,” Rosili said. “We have some monkey bars for kids, some climbing stuff, some slides for younger kids and music stuff. My favorite part is the logs because they’re super fun to climb on and I think they’ll be fun for a lot of kids.”

Olson said Rosili has always looked out for others, especially her sisters. She said her daughter’s empathy is demonstrated by how she cares deeply for the people around her.

“She is probably the most kind person and thoughtful person you’d ever know,” Olson said. “I think what drew her to this is her wanting to make her sisters happy.”

Howes was impressed that someone so young could see a problem and come up with a solution, instead of complaining. He wants to take that lesson to heart and hopes others can learn from how Rosili handled the situation. 

“I've been doing this for 25 years and this is one of my favorite experiences of my whole career,” Howes said. “Somebody that young, handling a situation that she didn’t like, in that way. What an example.”