Public Achievement
(8th grade)
Read Mankato Free Press Article 4/7/05
Read Mankato Free Press Article 3/22/05
Read Mankato Free Press Article 3/21/05
December 2004
This group has been focused and dynamic from the start. Being a skateboarder, I understand the intensity that many kids feel toward skateboarding. They just love the sport, and want it to be recognized as a respectable sport.We began the semester by defining our issue, problem, and project. Our issue was obvious: skateboarding. Our problem took some time to agree on one out of many alternatives: Not enough places to legally skateboard. Even after defining a problem there was a couple of ways we could go with the project. They decided to try to get a skate park built in the city of North Mankato. To help our efforts we did a power mapping exercise. We have a long, but important list of people that we can call to help us on our mission. So far we have called Nancy (the city clerk). She will be able to get us on the agenda for the city council, and gave us some good things to focus in while preparing for our presentation to the council. We have also been in contact with a Duluth based skateboard park contractor. They sent us a promotional video some pamphlets.We have three main things to research before the city council meeting. #1 who are the possible contractors for the skate park? #2 What are some possible fundraisers to propose to the council? And, #3 Who has a stake in this project and would support our efforts?On top of our main goal, we read about and discuss one public achievement core concept per week. So far we have discussed diversity, interest (self, public, others), politics and power.
The second semester of our PA experience has been very rewarding. Our first semester consisted of a lot of research and exploration of different tactics. By the time January came around we were ready to take what we had learned and apply it to the outside world. We presented at a North Mankato city council meeting on March 7th. After this meeting they asked us to come back and give even more input, so we did. In fact, we went back the very next meeting on March 21st. I am happy to say that everyone in the group spoke in front of the city council for a significant amount of time on topics that they researched themselves. Through this process there were three articles written in the Mankato Free Press about the group and the prospect of a skate park in North Mankato. We now have an advisory committee for the skate park project. Billy Steiner (city council member) offered to sit on the committee, and the kids are going to be able to remain involved. Our PA group will essentially be functioning as the committee. Overall, we are very thankful for the groups that came before us and paved the way for this project. We couldn’t have received this kind of attention if other groups had not expressed their interest as well. The city has unofficially set aside a portion of land at Caswell Park for the project. Our first task for the summer will be to request funding from local businesses.