In this issue:
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Eco-Skating
-Terri Nostrand
Coolidge Senior High School
What do you get when you combine used tires, construction debris, concrete and skateboards? Why, the first skateboarding park in the District of Columbia, of course!
Bridging the Watershed 2002 institute participant Terri Nostrand of Coolidge Senior High School in the District saw a need that was not be filled. Students and adults in the nation's capitol have no free, legal place to skateboard. Estimates place skateboarding popularity at an all time high as the sixth most popular sport in the nation and third most popular in the 6 to 18 year old age group. That's about 3.3 million skaters nationwide, or more importantly nearly 700 skaters in the District alone with no place to legally recreate.
Ms. Nostrand decided to do something about this lack of opportunity for
her students who skate and others like them in DC. She sought grant money
to create a skatepark at her school. Using an idea she had seen at a skatepark
in Philadelphia, the primary construction materials would all be reused
and recycled, creating an enormous environmental science project for her
students. Once built, the facility will also be used by physics classes
to explore hands-on the physics of skateboarding, physical education classes
will be able to use it as an alternative activity and environmental science
students will be able to use it as a model for alternative, earth-friendly
construction techniques.
The design of the project was completed by community skaters and skate
professionals who donated their time and talents to the project. The labor
is being entirely donated by local skaters who will work with the local
youth to provide community service opportunities for them. Terri has written
and received two grants for the project: one from Project GreenWorks for
$6400.00 and another from the Tony Hawk Foundation for $14,150.00. A grant
of 17 trees has been given by the Department of Health to help control
run-off created by the new impervious surfaces. In addition to the monetary
grants, she has also secured approximately $22,000.00 in donations of
materials and labor.
The construction techniques necessary to build out of reused and recycled materials are unique. The outside support walls are being constructed entirely of used tires cleaned up from National Parks, abandoned lots and the Potomac River Watershed. Students and other volunteers will work to collect the tires from various clean-up days and other initiatives. The tires are then rammed with fill from construction sites, broken up bits of concrete or other clean fill, and then stacked one on top of the other to create walls. On the inside of the walls, more concrete pieces and fill form the rough shape of the transitions to be skated. Rebar is then laid in place and a fresh layer of concrete is poured to create a smooth, flowing skating surface. The outside walls are then covered with a skin of concrete to create a surface where community artists and students will create tile mosaics and murals. A portion of the grant money, plus some earned from scheduled fund-raisers at Van's Skatepark in Potomac Mills will be used to buy enough skateboards and safety equipment for 30 kids. Kids who might never be able to afford the equipment will be able to borrow boards, helmets and pads to participate at the park.
For more information about how you or your students may become involved,
if you would like ideas about integrating the science of skateboarding
or to brainstorm more creative ways to clean up our watershed, contact
Terri Nostrand at nostrandterri@hotmail.com.
