Playground Designed by Elementary Students Opens in Queens

Bong-Gyu Park, founder and director of Korea CEO Summit (The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—The Corona community in Queens celebrated the opening of a new state-of –the-art playground at P.S. 19 on Tuesday. The playground was designed by a team of elementary school students, teachers, parents, and community members, and with the assistance from the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and HANAC Corona Beacon community sponsor. The school’s chorus held a special performance to mark the opening ceremony.

The new $1 million space replaced the former cracked asphalt lot, and includes community gardens, a running track, multi-purpose courts, water play spray, trees, amphitheater, benches, unique pieces of play equipment, and game areas painted on the ground. The project was partially funded by MetLife Foundation and Rodale Inc.

“Prior to this transformation, students and neighborhood children had to make the most of a cracked asphalt lot without any play equipment. The students were yearning for a place to play during recess and after school. Today, their dream became a reality,” said Andy Stone, director of the TPL’s Parks for People program in New York City.

The playground will serve an estimated 1,974 kindergarten through fifth grade students at P.S. 19, which is the largest elementary school in the nation. The new space will also be available to the members of the surrounding community.

The students participating in the design project developed and presented a 3-D model depicting their view of the planned playground as part of the three-month design process facilitated by TPL. The young participants plan to further contribute to this project by planting two gardens located in the main schoolyard and in the outdoor classroom area with the materials donated by the Rodale Inc. Teachers and community members will also assist in this undertaking.

“The process of the building of this playground has been a collaborative learning experience,” said P.S. 19 principal Genie Calibar. “The students and the community had the opportunity to express through surveys, done by the group of students that helped in the planning for the playground, to communicate what they wanted for their park. This playground exemplifies the school’s mission, a place where the community enjoys learning in a fun engaging manner,” she continued.

The P.S. 19 playground is the fourth of 24 community parks that TPL has built as part of their partnership with Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC initiative. TPL plans to transform playgrounds at 185 schoolyards by 2010 through this initiative.