Youth Present Their Visions for Wedge Point Park With Haikus, Artwork, and Action Plan

Youth want to be heard. The Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshops gave them that opportunity.

The third and final workshop was held on Nov. 24 at SPEAK MPLS. Thirty-three students from Ella Baker and other Minneapolis schools attended. 

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board planner Colleen O’Dell joined the workshop to hear from the youth (ages 8 to 16) about their plans and dreams for Wedge Point Park, a new park in the Lowry Hill East neighborhood (the Wedge) of Minneapolis at 1920 Aldrich Ave South. 

Presentations were shared in the form of haikus, artwork, and an action plan. 

The Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation created the workshops in partnership with the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA) and World Savvy.

The workshop facilitators were World Savvy coach and professional learning facilitator Molly Dengler and World Savvy teachers Elora Turner, Caley Vickerman, Maya Kruger, and Sam Quincy.

Youth facilitators included Eva Ortiz, a 16-year-old elected LHENA board member, and Jesus Rojas, a bilingual (Spanish/English) 15-year-old youth community journalism team leader from the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation’s Youth Community Journalism Institute.

Interpreter services were provided for Spanish speakers. Nathaniel Harris played live music (as he did at all of the workshops).

Leeann Chin supplied the food after having delicious Mexican food made by Doña Clara Cabrera catering at the second workshop, and pizza donated from Pizza Luce for the first workshop.

Molly, Elora, and Caley led the final workshop and set the objective for the day: to present youth recommendations to the Minneapolis Park Board.

They created four teams of youth (about 8 youth each, with one adult) and explained how everyone would engage with each other.

All of the youth participants started with an engagement ticket to activate their prior experiences from the first two workshops (see photos of that work).

This golden ticket provided a roadmap and reminded everyone of the youth engagement agreements.

✅ Engage (Step Up or Step Back to Participate)

✅ Use People’s Names

✅ Teamwork

✅ Active Listening (No Phones or Rolling on Chairs)

✅ Be Brave

✅ Clean Up

Youth learned the rules of haiku, a form of poetry that originated in ancient Japan. Haiku was an essential part of our final Wedge Point Park youth workshop.

Haikus are short poems that consist of three lines and 17 syllables. They have five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line.

Youth started with a welcome challenge to reflect on the feelings or reasons for parks and to get comfortable with haiku.

A park is a place for __________. They could write three words or draw them.

They were asked to share 3-5 things/people/places/experiences for which they are grateful, using sense words (see/touch/smell/hear/feel) to describe those things (ex: cozy, colorful, calming, noisy, loving).

PHOTOS: See all the engagement ticket reflections.

Vickerman, the founder of Guerilla Haiku, then introduced the group to the power of haiku.

She showed everyone how haiku can be a bridge between their ideas and prototyping for Wedge Point Park and their presentation to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

To get warmed up, everyone created their own “Who Am I” haiku with chalk on black construction paper. 

Each haiku was hung up around the room with clothespins on rope.

The haikus highlighted each person’s unique identity and showcased their voices and contributions.

These were the haikus youth and community members created.

I am grateful for 
my friends, family, and more
Like all of the parks

My name is Hudson
I am fun, happy, grateful
for my family. Bye!

Yareli
School
Soccer

I am a person
in Minnesota USA
farming at the park

Resourcefully calm
Clinging to changing us here
For the better now

I like to read and play
The important thing for me
is my friends and family

I am a person who likes 
to learn new things, like
music and drawing
The important thing for me
is to achieve my goals in school

The caterpillar 
ate a leaf that was yummy
then turned to a butterfly

Love our public parks
Trees, birds, grass, dirt, and water
All of it freedom

Milkweed birchtree plum
Buzzing bees honeysuckle thumb
Bouncy balls free snacks yummy yum

Are you in the park?
Seven people are in park
I will be in park

My name’s Nathaniel
people, music, and friendship
I am grateful for this fellowship
Strong minds/strong bodies

Kir enjoys nature
Walking, watching, gardening
All seasons, weather

Under the archway
Photos of me and my friend
Memories to hold

Ramps, swings, monkey bars
Apples, roses, raspberries
Fun for all the people

La rosa roja
Familia, ciudad.
La rana se rió

[The red rose
Family, city
The frog laughed.]

My name is C.C
Fun is important to me
Grateful for good health

Mis padres
Dios y mi vida
Familia

[My parents
God and my life
Family]

I went to the park
Down the slide fast, swinging high
Flying off the swing!

I’m Aisha
Important to me is fun
Grateful for my friend

We are nice, cool sweet
Having fun after long days
With family and friends

Basketball football
Family rest are so the
community park

Family, city
My son zooming on his bike
Place for all to play

Family come, splash pads
Wet, soaked, laughing family play
Day off at playground

I am not perfect
Activism invites change
We need activism

A park is a place 
for kids, pets, families too
They play together

Parks are fun for kids
Spinning around fast, laughing
Jumping off high swings

I went to the mall.
I like to walk my small dog.
I love my small dog.

My name is Maida
I am grateful for my family
What’s important to me is fun.

I’m grateful for friends
They help me when I’m down
They are wonderful

En el parque disfrutamos en familia
Los niños y adultos se divierten juntos
Nuestra comunidad es unida y socialable
Los animals son bienvenidos

[In the park we enjoy as a family
Children and adults have fun together
Our community is united and sociable
Animals are welcome]

We see the swings here
Everyone is playing fair
Kids are having fun

Soccer and family
All people can play soccer
Living every day

I love all the parks
The slides, swings, and monkey bars
They are all so fun

we serve all ages.
everyone is treated fair.
families will love.

After creating their personal haikus, the group took a gallery walk.

They reflected on the prior teamwork and ideas from the first two workshop sessions.

They gave feedback on the park prototypes and answered three questions.

1. What do you like about this design?

2. What do you think is missing?

3. Describe how this park looks, feels, and sounds.

The second half of the workshop synthesized all of the youth ideas with station work.

All four teams rotated to four stations, practiced collaboration and consensus building, and prepared to present.

Station 1: Visions and Action Steps (Elora) 

Each team provided a concrete vision and vision statement for the park.

All of the groups added to the statement with consensus building (voting).

Each group showcased how that vision shows up in our action steps for Wedge Point Park.

Youth considered the next steps of their engagement after the workshops, such as outreach, reporting to the community, and engaging more voices.

They envisioned their participation moving forward for Wedge Point Park.

Station 2: Haiku Park — This Is Us (Caley)

All of the teams wrote haikus about what Wedge Point Park should look like, sound like, feel like, and smell like.

These haikus built on their earlier haiku work.

They told more of their stories. 

They told more of the stories of our communities.

They created powerful haikus.

Station 3: Celebration/Inauguration of Park (Molly)

The Park Board wants to celebrate the opening of this new park. Youth shared their visions for the opening celebration of Wedge Point Park and how they can be involved.

They addressed these questions.

1. How do we celebrate our work?

2. Who do we invite for the opening of Wedge Point Park?

3. How can we bring our haikus into the celebration?

Station 4: Art and Mural Ideas (Eva)

Murals can be many things and serve many purposes.

They can beautify spaces and express culture.

They can record history, promote a message, create a sense of community, and inspire creativity.

Youth shared their ideas for what murals could be at the park, and what murals they would want.

They created their murals using their names or drawings to make art that could be represented at Wedge Point Park.

Presentation Time

After the station work, youth made their final presentations to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The ending team from each station presented their work.

The haiku station went first.

The final team chose their favorite haikus.

Here is what they envision the park looking like.

It looks like it’s safe
No one is getting hurt here
By safety measures

This is what it sounds like.

It will sound peaceful
We will be heard every day
Our voices are proud.

This is what it smells like.

Smells like fresh flowers
And lavender fills the air
Sunflowers bring peace

This is what it feels like.

Feels like extreme fun.
The tall slide is exciting
Very very fun

These were the other haikus that were created. They show why youth voices are important.

People don’t hear us
We can change things together
Youth want to be heard

We should have a say
In a place where children play
Because we are kids

It smells peaceful
like flowers in a garden
Bright pink tulips

It smells like garbage
It should smell like a garden
Kids can make ideas

We feel protected.
Calm, safe, and open-minded.
Love is in the air.

A playground with grass
the soft grass in our bare feet
My heart enjoys it

The park looks cheerful
Full of happy families
Trees growing freely

Children are playing
People talking together
The birds chirping

Kids scream fun and loud.
Birds are chirping in the trees.
Dogs are barking too.

Because we can speak
Because we are beautiful
We speak to people

PHOTOS: See all of the haikus.

The action steps station was next. Youth shared their vision and proposed the next steps.

The vision for Wedge Point Park:

Parks are for all people and needs no matter who are to gather for activities, music, chilling, fun, play, explore, and learn with community, friends, family, and pets in nature.

The recommended next steps:

Step 1. Use the vision for the park.

Step 2. Hold youth workshops for all parks.

Step 3. Build model to vote for community online and in person.

Step 4. Haiku art in Wedge Point Park.

PHOTOS: See all of the visions and action steps.

The team celebration station followed and shared how we can celebrate the opening of Wedge Point Park.

Youth will start by making flyers, putting them on the news, in local businesses, and distributing them in schools.

The flyer is going to look like this.

The celebration is going to happen over a long period of time, from about 2 p.m. after school to about 6 p.m. at night.

They are going to have entertainment: soccer games, tag games, basketball games, football games, and a pet zone.

They will have special activities, including live music, a merch table, carnival games, a ribbon cutting, a light show, bouncy house, and light-up features.

The park planners (youth) will make speeches.

For food, the celebration will have pizza, food trucks, and a corn roast. Baba’s Hummus could donate. 

All partygoers will get a goodie bag.

PHOTOS: See all of the celebration ideas.

Last but not least was the art station presentation.

Youth walked the murals around the room and showed everyone what could be represented at Wedge Point Park.

PHOTOS: See all of the art and mural ideas.

The workshops closed with a reflection on the whole process.

Following the presentations, workshop participants gave shout outs to the work done by youth, facilitators, parents, and the community.

The whole group sang “Happy Birthday” to Moises, an eighth-grade student at Ella Baker who turned 14. His mom brought cake for everyone to enjoy.

To end the workshop, youth completed the final challenge of their engagement ticket. 

The exit ticket had an action station reflection (three action steps their team recommends for the Minneapolis Park Board), a haiku station reflection (one haiku from their team to describe how parks should feel), an art station reflection (what designs or types of art are best to make for Wedge Point Park), and a celebration station reflection (what excites you most about the plans for the park celebration). 

Youth offered GLOW feedback about what went well or what was their favorite part of the workshop.

They offered GROW feedback about what could have been done better or what could be done next time to improve the workshop.

They rated the workshop from 1-5 from not fun, not engaged to fun, engaging, and empowering.

PHOTOS: See all of the exit ticket reflections.

Each youth who participated in the Wedge Point Park workshops shared their voice.

Each one of their voices made an impact.

To recognize and celebrate that impact, each youth who participated in the Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshop received a $50 Target gift card after each workshop.

Some youths attended all three workshops and earned $150 in Target gift cards.

PHOTOS: See all the action from Workshop No. 3.

The Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshops showed why youth voices are important.

They showed what is possible when we engage youth in creative ways and empower them to address real-world issues and solve real-world problems. 

By practicing the skills of consensus building, creativity, and sharing voices through many different forms of engagement, we offered a unified voice for Wedge Point Park.

MPRB can put these youth voices into action and make a lasting impact on the community.

“The workshops were great,” said Colleen O’Dell, a senior planner and landscape architect at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board who attended the first and third Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshops.

You can watch the Wedge Point Park youth presentations in this video.

What We Learned

Education is the foundation of success, and youth are our greatest resource.

Now more than ever, communities need problem solvers, and youth need engaging educational opportunities. The Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshops showed how youth engagement with the community can fill both of those needs and create local solutions.

We look forward to providing more opportunities like the Wedge Point Park youth engagement workshops for youth to share their voices and light our path forward.

For more information about the Strong Mind Strong Body Foundation’s youth engagement programs and services, contact Eric Ortiz at eric@strongmindstrongbody.org.