Chiloquin, Ore. – A student vision that was sparked by a school teacher in Chiloquin 3 years ago is nearing reality.
An area of the Chiloquin Community Park will soon be a skate park.
The idea didn’t come from the city.
“It came from a group of sixth grade boys who were bored.” Explains Eileen Bucklin, of Chiloquin Visions in Progress. “And their teacher said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and they said, ‘We’d like a skate park.”
One of those sixth graders was Jaylen Law, who’s now in the ninth grade. “we started going to more town meetings, more sign-ups, and eventually up to now – I see at the park that they’re starting to build it.”
Teacher Grace Stroup worked with the students on how to achieve their goal.
“And she went through the whole process with them.” Notes Bucklin. “And they went out, and they had petitions, they learned how to raise money.”
Jaylin Law says he’s learned an even greater lesson.
“I learned that pretty much kids anywhere, could do pretty much anything.” Says Law. “Because, I was a sixth grader, and look what we’ve done now – we’ve made a skate park.”
Backers are hoping to have the skate park up and running in about a month.
Grace Stroup now teaches at a school in Alaska north of the Arctic Circle.
And on a side note, Jaylen’s excitement for the project isn’t diminished by the fact that he doesn’t have a skateboard.
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