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At your service
By Shari Gasper
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Landscape architecture student John Haven created a "secret garden" design for Lafayette's Thomas Duncan Community Hall. (Photo by Tom Campbell). |
Learning from textbooks and classroom lectures are basic requirements of any college course. The next step, applying the course principles through hands-on experience, takes students to a higher level of learning. In Purdue's landscape architecture program, faculty and students engage in this type of learning every semester through several community service projects. These projects stimulate students to create workable ideas and solutions, exercise problem-solving skills and evaluate the results. And by getting involved in the community, students are gaining an appreciation for what it means to help others while striving to achieve their own potential.
Two years ago, landscape architecture professor Rob Sovinski took his students to a neglected courtyard at Lafayette's Thomas Duncan Community Hall, a historic building frequently used for community, political and social events. According to Duncan Hall executive director Aura Lee Emsweller, an addition was made to the building many years ago, and a small courtyard was left between the old and new parts to let sunlight into the building. Unfortunately, the courtyard soon became forgotten and unkempt. "The walkway was crumbling, ivy had taken over everywhere and a small sculpture lay in the grass near a non-functioning fountain," Emsweller recalls.
She dreamed of turning it into a garden, like the one in the famous book The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. So she contacted Sovinski for ideas and assistance.
Sovinski's landscape architectural design class surveyed the courtyard conditions. Later in the semester, more than 30 students submitted designs for a garden in a formal presentation to Duncan Hall's board of directors. The winning design, too, remained a secret while members of six labor unions and dozens of volunteers created the Secret Garden.
The winning design by John Haven was publicly revealed at the grand opening. "I wanted the garden to be very relaxed, a place where people could go to have an intimate gathering or just read a book," says Haven, now a senior. Stepping stones are engraved with quotes from The Secret Garden and are flanked by colorful perennials and a bubbling fountain.
"It was an exciting time for the students," says Sovinski. "They worked hard to develop designs that incorporated all the elements on the site, not just the plants, and that is what landscape architecture is all about."
Two years later, the Secret Garden remains a great marketing tool for Duncan Hall. "People are enchanted by the garden," says Emsweller. "In addition to its beauty, it symbolizes community involvement and pride. The students really put their hearts into the project."
Last year, students continued working with Duncan Hall in conjunction with the Lafayette Journal and Courier to improve property between the two organizations. A design by junior David Carter was chosen for the Star City Dream Garden, which is in its beginning phases.
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