In the southwest corner of Chicago, something beautiful was born....
In fact, a new three-hole golf course was the creation of many students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.
"We did actually make good use of the land," said Dr. Robert Bush, a teacher at the school.
The land near the school was in bad shape two years ago.
"I started out when it was just weeds and car parts all over the place, basically." said Minor. And fallen trees, boulders and trash. "It was an area that was not used for anything productive and actually that because of was unsafe," said Dr. Bush.
With help from an architect, the students themselves designed the golf course, and then went to work.
They used heavy equipment to clear the land and put down sod. "I remember putting a special attachment on the Bobcat to lift an entire tree off the ground, to put it on one of the piles," said Mark Taylor, 17.
It was a lesson they could not have learned just sitting in a classroom.
"I looked at that as an opportunity to actually allow them to use earth-moving equipment and surveying equipment, and things that would have just been theory in a classroom," said Bush.
At a time when we've hear so much bad news about students at Chicago Public Schools, the agriculture high school students did something extraordinary with their minds and their hands.
"It feels amazing just to see the before and after," said Jasmine Lucas, 17. "It just makes you feel emotional cause you started when all this was just dead land."
The golf course, near 111th Street and Pulaski Road, is free; anyone can play there.
And it was designed to make special needs students feel welcome.
From CBS News...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
