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June 4, 2010: Volume 77, Number 30 |
The Chronicle
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Union community helps build a neighborhood playground
For several Union alumni and current students, it was child’s play.
Or at least it would be, when they finished.
Jeremy Taglieri '09 and Joe McCarthy '09 celebrate the completion of the new neighborhood playground in Schenectady. (Photos by Matt Milless) |
A year after they graduated, Joe McCarthy, Jeremy Taglieri and Geoffrey Raynor were still in Schenectady, studying up on how to transform a neighborhood and children’s lives through an aging park playground in Hamilton Hill, a troubled city neighborhood.
This week, Project SKIP (Schenectady Kids Imagine and Play) became a reality, as President Stephen Ainlay, Mayor Brian Stratton, community organizers and others gathered for the official opening of the new playground in Jerry Burrell Park.
The alums got a big boost from Dana Goldsmith ’10 and Max Shapiro '10, as well as members of the Class of 2010, who contributed their senior class gift to the project. The playground was inspired by a similar playground built by the alums when they visited New Orleans to help after Hurricane Katrina.
Dana Goldsmith '10, standing front row, center, and members of the Class of 2010 joined with other volunteers on Project SKIP. |
“The highlight of that trip was volunteering on that community playground build,” said Taglieri. “It was so moving, seeing a neighborhood that had been so devastated, pull together and say ‘we own this community. . .we will rebuild it.’ In some ways, Project SKIP has been about me being able to relive that experience; to carry it and its lessons with me wherever I go.”
A number of faculty and staff also pitched in, working alongside members of the community to design, build and fund-raise for the new playground, which took nearly two years to complete.
Members of the Union community were joined by local volunteers to help build the playground. |
“Building the new playground is the first and foremost goal, but beyond that it is really important for us to try to bring together the community,” said McCarthy, whose father, Kevin, is a carpenter at Union. “People have to take ownership of their own neighborhood. It isn’t enough to just drop a new playground in the community; it has to be done with the interest of the community in mind, which is why having some of the residents with the biggest stake in the playground working with us was so important.”
To read about the project in The Daily Gazette, click here.
To read a story in the Times Union, click here.
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