On a sunny summer day most people can only dream of in the dead of winter, Ali Karpenko might find herself driving past Grand Forks' Sertoma Park.
Though Karpenko doesn't make it out to the park as much as she'd like, she's still taken aback by seeing people of all ages enjoying themselves in a park she helped bring to life some seven years ago.
"I can't comprehend when I go by there that I was part of it," she said.
Karpenko is best known for being the face and inspiration behind Ali's Boundless Playground, a community playground accessible to everyone, including children with disabilities. Now 23, she's a first-year law student at UND's School of Law.
After her years in law school, Karpenko hopes to continue giving back, she said, by working as a lawyer or at a nonprofit to give a voice to the voiceless.
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"Wherever it leads me, it'll be an opportunity for me to advocate for people who may not have a voice or need more of a voice to speak for themselves," she said.
Helping others and looking for positive change have been a theme throughout Karpenko's life.
One for all
At age 12, Karpenko began her campaign to create a playground that was accessible for everyone. After visiting an all-accessible playground in Bismarck, Karpenko, who has spina bifida, a condition that caused her to be born with a partially exposed spinal cord, had her "lightbulb moment."
She wondered why a similar facility didn't exist in Grand Forks, and she began to pursue bringing one to town.
"I don't think more people necessarily realize the need for something like that until you see it firsthand, until you see how amazing it is and how it can better someone's life," she said.
Karpenko eventually discovered a Boundless Playgrounds essay contest with a grand prize of a $300,000 playground. In early 2007, she found out she was selected as one of 20 finalists from 930 entries.
Though she didn't win the grand prize, she was offered a substantial discount on specialized playground equipment for being a finalist.
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Karpenko formed a playground committee and reached out to businesses and individual donors to raise funds to buy the playground. Over a two-year stretch, she and the committee raised $200,000 to pay for the equipment
"We just put the word out there, and it was unbelievable how our community responded. I can never say enough about Grand Forks and the way people here get behind something that is helpful."
Kay Derry, a past chairwoman of the Sertoma Club and a member of the playground committee, said Karpenko was mature for her age while leading the effort for the playground.
She remembers loving the idea the first time she was approached about putting the playground in Sertoma Park because of its location close to Altru Hospital, and the existing playground needed an upgrade. With Karpenko serving as the project's driver, the town rallied behind the idea.
"The town pulled together, and it just needed somebody to give it a start, and Ali was the one to do it," Derry said.
Now Karpenko is off to a different start, completing her first semester of law school after receiving her bachelor's degree in criminal justice at UND.
The hope, she said, is to continue on a path that allows her to advocate for people and to help others - a path that always has been prominent in her life.
"My family always raised me with the lesson to help other people whenever you have the opportunity," she said. "I guess I just have a passion for helping other people as much as I can and bringing a little bit of change to the world."
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