JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PLAN SKATE PARK

The city of Jackson will one day boast a skate park if five Jackson High School students and their instructor, Cathy Boyd, are successful in a community service project they have undertaken. Four of the students are members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and one is a member of Future Farmers of America.

The students are Jana Walther, Dawn Lambert, Emily Wessell, Victoria Ramsey and Nikki Wells.

The seed money for the skate park will come from a grant of $2,100 from the Missouri Rural and Urban Leadership Experience and Services (MO-RULES), a program launched by the governor's office. Additional funding through donations and volunteer work will need to be raised to complete the project which is still in the planning phase, according to Boyd, JHS family and consumer science teacher.

On March 16, nearly 11,000 survey sheets will be sent home with students in all public and parochial schools in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. The results shown on the returned survey forms will indicate the amount of interest in a skate park project.

Potential locations

Three locations are being discussed as the site of a skate park, which would be open to skate boarders, In-Line skaters, scooters and hockey players.

The locations include the old tennis court in Litz Park, the old tennis court in the Jackson City Park, and an area next to the Jackson band shell that would provide a flat expanse of ground on which to build a skate park.

"We think there are a lot of people in the community who will benefit from this (skate park) and will support it," Boyd said. "Right now there's no place for skaters to go."

They plan to make presentations before the Jackson Park and Recreation Board and before the Jackson Board of Aldermen. The group has already met with Park and Recreation Director Shane Anderson, as well as the directors of the Southeast Missouri Hockey League, Don and Saundra Perry.

"Jackson has been good to us," Boyd said, "and we would like the skate park to be located somewhere in Jackson."

The beginning

The community service project began last summer when Donna Taake, Cape Girardeau County youth specialist at the Missouri Extension office, contacted Mrs. Boyd about MO-RULES. The girls involved in the program lost no time in making application for consideration for a community service grant and were among the first to send their application to Jefferson City. They were so prompt in their response that an aide to Gov. Carnahan paid a personal visit to the school and presented the class with a computer and special software to help with the planning of their project.

They also received an all-expenses paid, week-long service retreat traveling on a chartered bus with 45 other MO-RULES participants and six chaperones from across the state. The group traveled to Rolla, Jefferson City, Columbia and St. Louis. Along the way, they participated in public service projects, including cleaning up a walking trail, spiffing up cabins at a camp and renovation work at an historic site.

The Jackson High School MO-RULES group has created an impressive bulletin board depicting the activities involved in the service project.

They also produced a videotape to use in their presentations for the skate park project. The background music on the video is that from the old TV series and recent Tom Cruise movie "Mission Impossible."

One is moved to observe, however, that this will become "Mission Possible." When asked where she thinks some of the necessary funding or volunteer work will come from for the skate park, Emily Wessel replied, "Well, you see, my dad is in construction..."