By Aniko Drlik-Muehleck
Turner, OR is a small town with a big new park opportunity. The City recently acquired 40 acres of undeveloped land around the 70 acre Crawford Lake that will eventually become the lakeside Crawford Crossing Park.
A CSC team of landscape designers (Greg Oldson and Ellee Stapleton) and faculty (Josh Bruce and Aniko Drlik-Muehleck) are assisting the City of Turner with developing a vision and concept design for the new park. Along the way, the CSC team got some MAJOR assistance from the Cascade High School AVID Class (taught by Lisa Iverson).
This group of motivated students developed a short survey asking residents in the Turner/Aumsville area what they would like to see in the new Crawford Crossing Park. The students then interviewed over 500 elementary, middle, and high school students, teachers, and parents about their preferences for the character and amenities of the new park.
The AVID Class presented the themes and findings from their survey to Turner’s Mayor Gary Tiffin, City Councilors Connie Miller and Martha Pynch, City Clerk Linda Hansen, and the CSC team, including RARE participant Michelle Patrick.
The students concluded the presentation with a message to the City of Turner and the CSC planning team: “This is a really big deal for us and for the people of Turner…This is the first time that the lake will actually be open to the public so a lot of new memories will be made there for families. We just wanted to thank you for coming out here to listen to our suggestions. It took a lot of time to prepare this and so hopefully you like it and it will help you out!”
Thanks, AVID Team! Your work certainly will help us out!
Check out this video compilation of the AVID students’ impressive and inspiring work, with bonus footage of a park budgeting activity the CSC team facilitated after the presentation. Special thanks to AVID Program Manager Bridget Weldon for creating the video!
AVID programs exist in many schools throughout Oregon, so if you’re looking to deepen a public engagement process, consider reaching out to see if an AVID class might be interested in collaborating with you!