Juniper School Playground Design
Link to Inspire Week Presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_OomP2CxhhTnxwy6cj8_0k9ohHuYdA2reEOhEhue3vo/edit?ts=5e5d66ca#slide=id.g704c05d593_1_0
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_OomP2CxhhTnxwy6cj8_0k9ohHuYdA2reEOhEhue3vo/edit?ts=5e5d66ca#slide=id.g704c05d593_1_0
Project Description: For Sophomore Inspire Week I was working with Juniper Elementary School to design a playground for their permanent location. We were starting the design process meaning we decided which areas were going to get used for what, what kind of equipment would be used, and other very general decisions you have to make when beginning a design process. I mainly worked on designing the main play space which includes a hill and pathway as well as an obstacle course made up of a series of rocks and logs. Along with designing what will go in the area, I had to call local businesses to see what materials and features we could get donated and what the school would have to buy. There were two other design groups that were working on designing a garden and a large blacktop area for games like four square and bean bags. None of our designs are final but we did layout the framework for the architect and landscapers to work off of.
Takeaways: My biggest takeaway from inspire week was definitely interviewing the kids. I had a lot of fun interviewing the kindergarteners about the playground and recording their outlandish ideas. The ideas the kindergarteners would come up with were so interesting to listen to because they don’t have logic to combat their ideas so something like a marshmallow trampoline would be at the top of their list for the playground. I really learned how to take initiative and be confident in my decisions this week. This really came up when I would be calling businesses to ask for donations. I had to be confident in everything I would discuss with the business or else I wouldn’t sound professional and they would lose interest. I had to take the initiative to just call businesses and start new aspects of the project. I will definitely carry my confidence in my decisions into other classes, jobs, or everyday life.
Connections Between School and Work: My communication skills really helped throughout Inspire Week. When we would debrief our designs with Juniper’s head of school I had to have good communication skills to articulate our design well. This skill also came up when I was interviewing the kindergarteners, they were so rambunctious and hard to listen too that I had to calm them down so they would only give me one or two ideas at a time rather than four or eight. The confidence in my self that continued developed this week is definitely something I’ll bring back into school.
Time Management: I was very productive and used my time effectively during Inspire Week. I think my productivity stemmed from the freedom Lori and Tina gave our group. Since we had the space to go take a ten-minute break when we were too overwhelmed or break away from work to have a quick conversation it made our group much more involved and excited to work. If we had Lori and Tina constantly telling us what to do we would have lost motivation and enthusiasm in the project. Time management got more difficult when there were massive chunks of work time but it was still pretty easy to stay on task and work for two or three hours then go take a quick break and come back to work. We would also go in and out of random conversations during work time which would help ease the stress and break up massive chunks of work time.
Connections to YouScience: My YouScience results align very well with my Inspire Week choice. They say I’m a 3D visualizer and I can mentally picture how a system works which was very important to do while designing the playground. I did have an easy time visualizing how the obstacle course will come together and how the hill and will look with all the trees and benches on it. I did a lot better with the design process than figuring out the budget which makes sense if you look at my YS results. I like how my YouScience results pertain to my Inspire Week because it shows I am already drawn to what I’ll excel in.
Advice for Future Students: The biggest suggestion I have to a sophomore picking their Inspire Week is to not do what your friends are doing, do what you are genuinely interested in. I almost did what my friends were doing but I decided to do what sounded the coolest to me and I think that decision helped me get the most out of my week. I also think that getting involved and diving deep into what your doing is important. If you’re not getting into it and really trying to excel during Sophomore Inspire Week than you won’t get as much out of it than you could have. Beyond that, I would just tell a sophomore to go into the week with an open mind or else you will already have an opinion on it and that could change the feel of your entire week.
Takeaways: My biggest takeaway from inspire week was definitely interviewing the kids. I had a lot of fun interviewing the kindergarteners about the playground and recording their outlandish ideas. The ideas the kindergarteners would come up with were so interesting to listen to because they don’t have logic to combat their ideas so something like a marshmallow trampoline would be at the top of their list for the playground. I really learned how to take initiative and be confident in my decisions this week. This really came up when I would be calling businesses to ask for donations. I had to be confident in everything I would discuss with the business or else I wouldn’t sound professional and they would lose interest. I had to take the initiative to just call businesses and start new aspects of the project. I will definitely carry my confidence in my decisions into other classes, jobs, or everyday life.
Connections Between School and Work: My communication skills really helped throughout Inspire Week. When we would debrief our designs with Juniper’s head of school I had to have good communication skills to articulate our design well. This skill also came up when I was interviewing the kindergarteners, they were so rambunctious and hard to listen too that I had to calm them down so they would only give me one or two ideas at a time rather than four or eight. The confidence in my self that continued developed this week is definitely something I’ll bring back into school.
Time Management: I was very productive and used my time effectively during Inspire Week. I think my productivity stemmed from the freedom Lori and Tina gave our group. Since we had the space to go take a ten-minute break when we were too overwhelmed or break away from work to have a quick conversation it made our group much more involved and excited to work. If we had Lori and Tina constantly telling us what to do we would have lost motivation and enthusiasm in the project. Time management got more difficult when there were massive chunks of work time but it was still pretty easy to stay on task and work for two or three hours then go take a quick break and come back to work. We would also go in and out of random conversations during work time which would help ease the stress and break up massive chunks of work time.
Connections to YouScience: My YouScience results align very well with my Inspire Week choice. They say I’m a 3D visualizer and I can mentally picture how a system works which was very important to do while designing the playground. I did have an easy time visualizing how the obstacle course will come together and how the hill and will look with all the trees and benches on it. I did a lot better with the design process than figuring out the budget which makes sense if you look at my YS results. I like how my YouScience results pertain to my Inspire Week because it shows I am already drawn to what I’ll excel in.
Advice for Future Students: The biggest suggestion I have to a sophomore picking their Inspire Week is to not do what your friends are doing, do what you are genuinely interested in. I almost did what my friends were doing but I decided to do what sounded the coolest to me and I think that decision helped me get the most out of my week. I also think that getting involved and diving deep into what your doing is important. If you’re not getting into it and really trying to excel during Sophomore Inspire Week than you won’t get as much out of it than you could have. Beyond that, I would just tell a sophomore to go into the week with an open mind or else you will already have an opinion on it and that could change the feel of your entire week.