UMD students Alyla Erickson. Mandi Wojciehowski, Brinda Dewan, Nova Miller, Nicholas Wagner, and Kelley Probst received the University of Minnesota Resilient Communities Project Outstanding Team Student Project award on May 13, 2017.
The students work on a nature-based recreation project for the City of Brooklyn Park earned them the Resilient Communities Project (RCP) recognition. They wrote a long-range management plan that includes sustainable management and education for an initiative they have named NaturePlay. It outlines the health effects of nature-based recreation. The UMD students were the only RCP group from UMD. About 20 other University of Minnesota-Twin Cities groups participated.
The project was part of UMD Professor Ken Gilbertson's Environmental Education Operations and Management class. Ken says, "We are routinely told that our UMD student projects and delivery rank among the best, but this is the first year that my students have received the award for best project. I'm really proud of their work."
The Resilient Communities Project (RCP) is a cross-disciplinary program that supports one-year partnerships between a selected community and the university, facilitating faculty-supervised course-based projects that meet city-identified sustainability needs. It is part of the University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA).