2006.10.16: October 16, 2006: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Architecture: Landscape Architecture: Playgrounds: Bosnia: New Orleans City Business: Costa Rica RPCV Karla Christensen plans to make schoolyards integral parts of New Orleans' community while fostering renewed interest in education and design
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Costa Rica:
Peace Corps Costa Rica :
The Peace Corps in Costa Rica:
2006.10.16: October 16, 2006: Headlines: COS - Costa Rica: Architecture: Landscape Architecture: Playgrounds: Bosnia: New Orleans City Business: Costa Rica RPCV Karla Christensen plans to make schoolyards integral parts of New Orleans' community while fostering renewed interest in education and design
Costa Rica RPCV Karla Christensen plans to make schoolyards integral parts of New Orleans' community while fostering renewed interest in education and design
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Christensen has designed and built playgrounds in war-torn parts of the world where landmines were the chief concern, not abandoned cars. "Conditions in New Orleans are the same as in Bosnia and Albania," Christensen said. "Kids are not using the play areas appropriately, there is very little money and a very urgent need for a positive change in the community."
Costa Rica RPCV Karla Christensen plans to make schoolyards integral parts of New Orleans' community while fostering renewed interest in education and design
Schoolyard design project will target N.O. renewal
Oct 16, 2006
New Orleans CityBusiness
Caption: Bosnian children swarm Karla Christensen, center, at one of the playgrounds she designed in the war-torn country. Photography By Karla Christensen.
Even before Hurricane Katrina, most schoolyards in New Orleans desperately needed attention.
Weeds sprouted through cracked sidewalks surrounding derelict playgrounds and outdoor learning was an abstract concept yet to be realized.
The New Orleans Schoolyard Project aims to change all that. After gathering input from a group of architecturally minded high school students, NOSP members are off to a rolling start.
Designed as a collaboration between the Louisiana State University School of Landscape Architecture and New Orleans schools, the Schoolyard Project plans to make schoolyards integral parts of the community while fostering renewed interest in education and design.
"We are oriented to doing real projects for real clients in real- world conditions," said Elizabeth Mossop, director of the LSU School of Landscape Architecture.
Since the cost of the project has yet to be determined and no funding has been secured, LSU students are working directly with students from four area schools this semester: Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Charter School, New Orleans Science and Math High School, Albert Wicker Elementary School and the Priestly School for Architecture and Construction.
"We are interested in public landscapes and very interested in the rebuilding of New Orleans," Mossop said. "Schools seemed like a perfect opportunity. Traditional schools always seemed like the most barren landscape imaginable to me, hurricane or no."
Playground wasteland
Mossop's partner, landscape architecture instructor Karla Christensen, knows how to brighten a virtual wasteland by installing a play area.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Christensen has designed and built playgrounds in war-torn parts of the world where landmines were the chief concern, not abandoned cars.
"Conditions in New Orleans are the same as in Bosnia and Albania," Christensen said. "Kids are not using the play areas appropriately, there is very little money and a very urgent need for a positive change in the community."
Momentum from drastic changes, whether from a violent war or a hurricane, can lead to complete overhauls of community areas, Christensen said.
But before the first swing set can be erected or the first green space cleared, landscape architecture students will determine what high school students in New Orleans want at their schools.
That's where the inaugural ninth-grade class at the Priestly School came in.
Originally, Christensen contacted Priestly Principal Michelle Biagas to study the school's historic building at 1607 S. Carrollton Ave. After learning of the unique goals of the fledgling school, a schoolyard collaboration was born.
"This whole thing has been a mystical experience," Biagas said. "Carrollton United, a community group in the area, went door to door asking members of the community what kind of school they wanted to see in the Priestly building, which hadn't held students since 1980."
Overwhelmingly, those surveyed said they wanted to see an architecture and construction school open in their neighborhood, paving the way for the Priestly School, which opened Sept. 7.
Student input
The Schoolyard Project is a dream come true, Biagas said, since Priestly students are working one on one with LSU landscape architecture students, beginning with a design planning session at LSU.
"We need you to give us your input and put it down on paper," Christensen told the Priestly students. "We need to know what you want your schoolyard to look like before we can start building it."
Priestly students were encouraged to write ideas on large hanging sheets of paper forming what Christensen dubbed a "talking wall," a template to guide future development plans.
Not all ideas, including a roller coaster, are realistic, Christensen said.
But she gained valuable suggestions such as more shade trees, a parking lot for teachers who now park on the street, an outdoor classroom for environmental learning, fountains and sculptures adorning the entranceway, a concert hall, art gallery and community center at the school. All ideas served to enlighten the LSU students about what is important to the students they are trying to help.
"The idea is to get the students to feel comfortable expressing their ideas and include the things they need in our designs," LSU landscape architecture student Jeremy Martin said. "We are going to use this project as a model for future projects."
After the LSU students analyze the data collected at the charrette, they will present their design concepts to the Priestly students, who will likely see many of their own ideas reflected.
The final step will be constructing the schoolyards, which Christensen hopes to begin doing by next school year.
"We have been working on securing funding for this project through grants," she said. "The goal is to get funding and actually build this project."
The playground building projects in Bosnia and Albania were state sponsored, Christensen said, so money was not an issue as it is in New Orleans.
"It all has to do with the amount of funding that becomes available as time goes on," she said. "But we want to see this project completed."
(Copyright 2006 Dolan Media Newswires)
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: October, 2006; Peace Corps Costa Rica; Directory of Costa Rica RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Costa Rica RPCVs; Architecture
When this story was posted in January 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan
On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future. |
 | Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps
Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
 | He served with honor
One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
 | Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance
The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process. |
 | The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again
The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace. |
 | PCOL readership increases 100%
Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
 | History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: New Orleans City Business
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Costa Rica; Architecture; Landscape Architecture; Playgrounds; Bosnia
PCOL34994
86
