COLLEGE STATION — When it’s class time for these Texas A&M University students, they think about heading out to the park and getting the most out of recreational experiences.
Make no mistake, though. They’re working hard, and it’s for the benefit of local communities who want to upgrade parks and other recreational offerings.
The class is RPTS 402 — planning and park design. It’s a “real-world” course in the department of recreation, park and tourism sciences at Texas A&M, and in recent semesters its participants have planned facilities for the communities of College Station, Smithville, Madisonville and Hearne.
“The students actually have a chance to contribute work and ideas to a process that may actually bring money and some positive change to communities,” said Dr. Scott Shafer, assistant professor in the department. “It’s not often that you get that chance in a class.”
Projects vary from semester to semester. In the fall 1997 class, teams of students worked on proposals for a master plan for Lick Creek Park in College Station, a 515-acre tract intended for use as a “wilderness park.”
Besides its small parking area and a few marked trails, Lick Creek is essentially undeveloped. The class recommended ways that it might be developed further without losing its identity as a natural area.
Among its suggestions were building a visitor center and interpretive exhibits along some of the park’s trails. This could heighten its status as a park focusing solely on nature-based recreation, including non-motorized trail use, wildlife viewing, nature study and nature photography.
Sites of historical significance at the park, including those used by Native Americans and early European settlers, will be inventoried and preserved.
A comprehensive plan, developed by the class, was given to College Station’s Parks and Recreation Department, whose advisory board approved it with minor modifications and then presented it to the city council. In March, the plan was adopted, and the city will move forward with the plan by seeking funding, probably through a bond election in the near future, said Steve Beachy, director of the city parks and recreation department.
“The class did an outstanding job, and we’re very appreciative of the cooperation on this project,” Beachy said. “Without their help, we couldn’t have gotten it done in the time it took.
“The project itself is going to be of major significance, a destination spot as a natural area. We’ve included it as part of our overall tourism strategy for the community.”
Shafer’s current class is focusing on a “greenways inventory” for College Station, looking at natural corridors along area creeks. These areas might be set aside for wildlife and for a network of alternative transportation routes, such as bicycle trails or footpaths.
During such projects, students will learn how different stakeholders have different ideas about what can be done with such land in a community.
They might visit and analyze outdoor locations, talk to various stakeholder groups, and attend public meetings as part of their efforts.
“We look at economic values and alternative transportation values. We look at recreational values, and we look at how projects can be funded,” Shafer said. “I want them to think about these areas in terms of planning processes and spatial construction — why people care about space and place.”
In recent courses, students also have been able to focus on their own space — including plans for a potential greenway in the western part of the A&M campus, where a creek flows through open areas near the new George Bush presidential library and the school’s Research Park.
It appears that projects the classes have worked on will be considered by city and university planners in their future development of the area, Shafer said.
There’s a lot to learn in the course, which is considered one of the department’s “capstone” courses, where students synthesize much of what they’ve learned in the department. And it’s definitely not an easy one.
“I think they’re harder for everybody. They’re harder for instructors because of organization and control,” said Shafer. “You can’t control the number of citizens who come to a planning meeting, for instance, or what they do and say.
“But being able to walk out and feel that you’ve contributed to positive change in a community, with the people who live there, is really nice. It validates much of what the students learn in their first two or three years here.”
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