Park skates on

By Emma Sun
A PROJECT conducted by year nine students to rebuild a skate park in Healesville has been included in the 2011 Yarra Ranges Council draft capital works program and is proposed to be built in 2012-13.
A total of $270,000 was proposed for the development of the skate park in Queens Park during the council meeting on Tuesday 10 March.
The issue was first brought to light by Healesville High School students Matt Peck, Max Graham, Will Bird, Tyson Briggs and Liam Coll, who were completing a year-long assignment for their Making A Difference (MAD) project.
Teacher and MAD project coordinator Gordon MacDonald said the theme of the project was making a difference on a local or global scale.
“They’re allowed to choose what they do as long as it’s an issue that affects people and it’s something they’re passionate about,” Mr MacDonald said.
The boys chose to make a difference in the Queens Park area. Their project also had two other components – to develop the disused netball court into a small social basketball court and to reconfigure Healesville’s BMX dirt track.
“We thought to aim for something where we could see change for ourselves, somewhere we could walk past and see the changes so we know that we’ve done something,” Max said.
A lack of facilities around the Healesville area was what spurred the boys to focusing on Queens Park.
“We just had a look at our community and thought what we needed in the community that we didn’t have, and that was the best,” Liam said.
“It was basically so kids have a thing to do instead of just sitting around on their bums or down at Coles, so we had somewhere to go and something to do,” Matt said.
The skate park component was also picked up by some local boys, Dale Jones, Jason Broome, Josh Wenhuda, Isaac Jones and Tyler Black, who contributed their efforts to the cause through the creation of a Facebook page to gain support.
The group reached more than 300 followers in a mere couple of months.
Ryrie Ward councillor Jeanette McRae said the students did very well with their projects.
“It was a very successful MAD project because we’ve (Yarra Ranges Council) taken on all the projects and I’m rapt that there were 300 people interested (on Facebook),” she said. “I just hope that when we get around to this design that they’re happy to be involved in the planning and design of it. It’s a year away, but it’s better than nothing.”
The boys are very pleased with the outcome and look forward to helping out.
“I think it’s really cool that we actually made a difference – that was our goal,” Matt said. “People actually listened and we got something done.”
Works on the basketball court will start this year and the council is still looking into what it can do for the BMX dirt track.