Front row: Whitney Lian, Matt Green, Austin Czichotzki, Kristine Neu, Jackie Dullinger, and Yangchen Gurung.

Two preliminary designs were prepared for each community. All four designs were a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota, Crookston and Twin Cities campuses. The Warren designs are being displayed at the Marshall County Fair from July 27-31 while the Crookston designs will be displayed on Tuesday, August 2 at National Night Out held in Crookston's Central Park.

The nature-based play space preliminary design concepts were created by Kristen Murray, U of M, Twin Cities landscape architecture graduate student, and Kristine Neu, U of M, Crookston environmental landscaping undergraduate. Both students were advised by Eric Castle, landscape architect and U of M, Crookston assistant professor of horticulture.

A nature-based play space is not the average playground. It looks more like woods, prairie, or garden. Unlike the open woods, the designs have a border, so that parents know where their children are, and children can play freely in the space. The designs incorporate plants and materials native to the area, with the intention of highlighting local stories and the talents and skills of people who live in the area.

Nature-based play puts kids in touch with nature by encouraging them to play with rocks, water, sand, leaves, sticks and other materials found outdoors. Nature-based play includes everything from active play (climbing, jumping, running) and creative play (make-believe, building, art-making). Usually this play is unstructured: kids can choose what they want to do, unlike in a structured group activity or class. Research is demonstrating that this is necessary for healthy child development.

The design process for both Castle and Island Park has been ongoing since early summer. In June there was a gathering of community members in each city to share ideas about how to transform a portion of their community's park into a nature-based play space. Further input was gathered from small group interactions with parents and children. The ideas gathered, along with countless hours of research, turned into the two preliminary designs for each community. The June brainstorming sessions were part of a larger process to develop plans, create, and install the play spaces.

Displaying the preliminary designs at the Marshall County Fair and National Night Out is part of the process of gathering community feedback about the designs. In the coming weeks the project team will be using community feedback to draft final designs for each site to be revealed in the end of August. Installation of the nature-based play spaces will begin this fall and carry over into next spring. The projects will likely be completed in phases.

Members of the Children Discovering Nature in Northwest Minnesota project team at the Marshall County Fair in Warren, Minn. with two preliminary design concepts for a nature-based play space for the city of Warren. A similar presentation of designs for Castle Park in Crookston, Minn. will be made Tuesday, August 2 at National Night Out.  Pictured are (L to R) Daniel Handeen, U of M, Twin Cities Center for Sustainable Building Research; Kristen Murray, U of M, Twin Cities landscape architecture graduate student; Frances Tougas, North Valley Public Health SHIP coordinator; Kristine Neu, U of M, Crookston environmental landscaping undergraduate; and Eric Castle, landscape architect and U of M, Crookston Assistant Professor of Horticulture

In addition to creating new play spaces for children, the project is investigating how the process of designing these spaces can influence public health.  Assistant Professor Eric Castle remarked, "a main objective of this project is to stimulate people to start thinking about children's health as well as their own health, and getting people outdoors is a great way to do that."   

The nature-based play spaces in Crookston and Warren are two of several regional installations under the Children Discovering Nature in Northwest Minnesota Project, which is providing design and financial support for nature based-play spaces in six area communities. The project team also includes Daniel Handeen and Virajita Singh, both research fellows at the U of M, Twin Cities Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR), and Linda Kingery, executive director of the Northwest Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership (NWRSDP). Kirsten Fagerlund, interim Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) coordinator on behalf of Sarah Reese, SHIP coordinator, is serving as the liaison between the community of Crookston and the project team. Frances Tougas, North Valley Public Health Statewide Health Improvement (SHIP) coordinator, is serving a similar role in Warren.

The team is working with city officials who will be instrumental in the approval of the design and installation of the space. In Warren, the team is also working with the Jaycees as the group will be providing a portion of the financial resources and volunteers to make the installation of their community's play space a reality. A portion of the financial support for the planning and implementation of both play spaces is being provided by a grant received from the Otto Bremer Foundation.

The project team is interested in forming a core advisory committee for the nature-based play space in each community. This committee would be comprised of a group of volunteers who will help make decisions, organize other volunteer efforts, and generally help create a vision for the play space into the future. If interested in being a part of the advisory committee in Crookston, community members are encouraged to contact Kirsten Fagerlund 218-281-3385 kfagerlund@pcphealth.org for more information. Community members of Warren should contact Frances Tougas 218-745-5154 ftougas@nvhc.net.

Concepts for Castle Park in Crookston (above)
Concepts for Island Park in Warren (below)

The University of Minnesota, Crookston has been named to the 2010 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).  This is the fourth time the campus has earned the honor.  To be named to the Honor Roll, a school must demonstrate that its students, faculty, and staff are engaged in meaningful service that achieves measurable results in the community.  This national level honor recognizes a college or university for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement.

The CNCS, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, has recognized more than 600 colleges and universities for exemplary, innovative, and effective community service programs.  It named 511 colleges and universities to the Community Service Honor Roll for 2010.  For a full list of recipients and descriptions of their service, visit www.NationalService.gov/HonorRoll.

Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school's commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of service.

At the U of M, Crookston in 2010, students tallied over 8,400 hours of service learning through their academic courses and nearly 9,500 hours of community service on their campus, in Crookston and their local communities, and across the country.   Additionally, the campus continued a commitment to designate 10 work study students in the community to serve as America Reads tutors at Crookston's Washington Elementary School, Highland School, and Our Savior's Lutheran Day School. 

Lisa Loegering, assistant director of service learning at the U of M, Crookston, confirms the positive influence on students who get involved in service projects, "Our students who choose to get involved with their community through service-learning and community service not only feel more connected to their community but also have a better context for the material they learn within the classroom."  Service-learning courses are found across all departments, and each of the nearly 40 student clubs and organizations strives to complete two service projects per semester.

"As members of the class of 2011 cross the stage to pick up their diplomas, more and more will be going into the world with a commitment to public service and the knowledge that they can make a difference in their communities and their own lives through service to others, thanks to the leadership of these institutions," said Patrick A. Corvington, chief executive officer of CNCS.  "Congratulations to the University of Minnesota, Crookston and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities.  We salute all the Honor Roll awardees for embracing their civic mission and providing opportunities for their students to tackle tough national challenges through service."

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve.   The agency is a strong partner with the nation's colleges and universities in supporting community service and service-learning.  CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education.

Today the University of Minnesota, Crookston delivers 29 bachelor's degree programs, 18 minors, and more than 40 concentrations, including several online degrees, in the areas of agriculture and natural resources; business; liberal arts and education; and math, science and technology.  With an enrollment of about 1,400 undergraduates from more than 25 countries and 40 states, the Crookston campus offers a supportive, close-knit atmosphere that leads to a prestigious University of Minnesota degree.  "Small Campus. Big Degree."  To learn more, visit www.umcrookston.edu.

In the photo (l to r):  University of Minnesota Crookston students, Tammy Wroblewski, senior, Milwaukee, Wis.; and Jess Seibel, senior, Crookston, Minn.; along with Sarah Reese, Polk County SHIP coordinator; and Stephanie Onken, senior, Round Lake, Minn.