Councilmember Jay Flowers and Councilmember Don Sims played host to a group of promising young minds Tuesday morning in the City Council Chambers. Fifth grade students from Thomasville City Schools' Enriching Gifted and Talented Students program presented their ideas on how to improve MacIntyre Park and create a greater amenity for the community.
Thomasville Scholar’s Academy Gifted Services Consultant Katie Chastain explained that the project was just a fun way to engage kids in a real -world learning opportunity.
“We had so many people from the community donate their time and resources to help these students develop theirpark improvement plans ,” she said. “Through it they were able to understand the process to make positive change in their community.”
The City of Thomasville’s Planning and Engineering Departments worked closely with students throughout the semester-long project in order to help them understand how multiple disciplines, including planning, landscape architecture, statistical modeling, cartography, ecology and engineering, are used to design our public parks.
“Over the last few months I’ve had the privilege to work with these students in order to give them a better understanding of what goes into the planning and design of our public spaces,” said Brian Herrmann, planner II for the City of Thomasville. “It was great to see the students getting so excited and becoming engaged in the planning process and truly taking what they have learned to heart.”
“One of the primary benefits to working with these students was the opportunity to provide them with insights into the art of creative place -making, and how we can ensure that public parks reflect our local culture while also attracting people to gather and hang out ,” he added.