Young Minds Focus on the South Pond
In early March more than 20 junior-high and high-school students met with a team of architects, engineers, designers and zoo officials to discuss the South Pond Enhancement Project. This “meeting of the minds” was scheduled to ensure that the students’ ideas for improving the pond were included in design plans.

Groups from Louisa May Alcott School, Illinois Math and Science Academy, and Francis Parker School covered the educational components of the redesigned pond, advised on interpretives that will ring the water, and updated their elders on the water-quality issues they’d been investigating.

“There was a lot of overlap between the ideas of the students and the professionals,” says Lead Program Coordinator Tatiana Garrett, who has sheparded the students through this process. “As the South Pond enhancement moves forward, Lincoln Park Zoo will keep the students involved in the process and ensure that this project is connected to the community.”