BY CHRIS FORTUNE
A new skate park and changes for a pedestrian bridge over K-10 are two improvements Cynthia Andrews’ seventh grade language arts students will present to the Eudora City Commission during its meeting Tuesday night.
Andrews said these projects are part of project-based learning. She proposed the idea for the skate park. Her inspiration came from watching her family bond at a skate park in Colorado, where her son is a freshman in college.
“I thought, ‘Could this interaction work for my students?’ So I asked them, and you get honest feedback because middle school kids are very honest,” Andrews said.
The idea for the other project was decided after a vote between a safer entrance for the school and improvements to the bridge over K-10.
“I just stopped class one day and I said, ‘Tell me what you care about,’ and I literally just typed everything they said that they cared about. Everything from, ‘We want a pool in our school,’ to ‘We want a safer entrance in our school,’ ” Andrews said.
The students said they have public safety in mind while working on these projects and hope to improve the quality of life and safety for current and future generations of Eudora residents.
Andrews has two classes working on each project. The students are divided into committees, such as communication, budget, research, presentation, fundraising, building and marketing.
In these committees, students work to find the cost of materials, fundraise, make flyers to spread the word about the proposals, attend City Commission meetings and more.
The students have enjoyed the projects because they learned valuable skills. They had the opportunity to speak with public officials and communicate with those who could help with their project.
Avah Foster, a member of the communications committee on the bridge project, wants to be able to fix issues before they occur.
The proposed idea is to add to the existing bridge because of concerns over safety. Changes would include sidewalks and a barrier with a fence between the road and walkway to allow safe passage.
“Change only happens when it’s too late,” she said.
While the students are aware that they may not see results in the immediate future, they made it known they are working on the projects for others as well.
“We want people of all ages and generations to use it,” said Payton Hoover, a member of the communications committee for the skate park team.
Despite working on separate projects, students from the skatepark and bridge teams have shared common goals when approaching these projects. They want to show that they can make a difference and make the city safer.
The City Commission will also hear from the Eudora Area Historical Society Tuesday night. The society will present plans on the preservation of the Eudora Southwest City Cemetery.
Reach reporter Chris Fortune at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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