Stories of Play

A principal is commonly defined as the staff member with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Chelsea Easter is so much more than that. She is an educator, an advocate, a motivator, and a Playworker at heart.  Chelsea Easter is currently the high school principal at Victory College Prep in Indianapolis, but…

After just two weeks of working at Playworks, Andrew “Coach Brash” Brasher knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to belong to a school community. Playworks put him in a position to realize his career goals, and now Coach Brash is a high school social worker just a few minutes away from Namaste Charter…

Patrice Whitfield embodies a Playworker. Now a member of the Illinois Playmakers Board, Patrice continues building upon her legacy of service. We invite you to join us and celebrate Playworks Illinois’ 10th anniversary by reading her story. Patrice, who found Playworks perfectly combined her interests and highlighted the importance of social emotional learning and physical…

Growing up, some of my favorite childhood and school memories are from sports – from playing peewee soccer all the way to Varsity teams in high school. As I’m sure is true for many of us, the skills learned during those practices and games have translated to life beyond the field or court.  At Playworks…

Recess is simultaneously one of the most treasured and most limited times during an elementary school day. Each of the 25 minutes students spend on the playground is precious, so it can be frustrating to waste time arguing about who kicked the ball out, whether or not they were tagged or who’s going to be…

Coach Stephanie’s student, Cameron, had so much potential – she just didn’t always know how to use her leadership skills in safe and healthy ways. At times Cameron could be withdrawn or had trouble managing her emotions, which made it more difficult for her to build trusting relationships with teachers and peers. Coach Stephanie selected…

Greetings Playworks friends! My name is Coach Stella and this year I held the position of Flex Coach with Playworks Illinois. As Flex Coach, I travel to various partner schools in the Chicagoland area to support fellow coaches’ programming. During my time at each school, I get a feel for their community and culture. I…

Junior Coach Nyyon is a ro-sham-bo rockstar! Anytime a conflict comes up, particularly during games like foursquare and switch, she is quick to step in and remind students to use ro-sham-bo to resolve the problem and get back to playing. Roshambo, also called rock, paper, scissors, is a quick game of chance kids can play…