Chicago High School Students Build 3-Hole Golf Course

Generating a signifcant amount of energy and enthusiasm to complete yet another collaborate class project is a task high school students often fail at; after all class projects rarely give teenagers much to be excited about. My high school history teacher had us design costumes and cook dishes for a medieval feast in our school's courtyard and once that was over he had us build homemade catapults. But that was more for the Dungeons and Dragons crowd and overall enthusiasm was tepid at best. And those were the most captivating projects.

Even in college, working with your peers had its shortcomings. I thought the parties involved tended to be more concerned with the work being evenly divided up (I'll tell the professor if you don't pull your weight) rather than actually producing a successful product. During a sports marketing class my senior year, we did get to design a few holes on a golf course; although the course was fictional and we were only allotted about 20 minutes to sketch a few holes on a notepad and then discuss our ideas.

Something miraculous in the world of class projects happened at a small high school in Chicago. Twenty years after it was first discussed and subsequently worked on by a generation of students, including the 600 who currently attend the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, a three-hole golf course, named Legacy, was completed and unveiled to the community.

The project was the brainchild of Robert Bush, who teaches agricultural mechanics and technology at the school. Bush's original plan was to build a putting green to teach students about soil and grasses, but with the blessing of then principal David Gilligan, the putting green became a series of par 3 holes.

"The surprising thing was actually building it," Mark Taylor, a junior from Mount Greenwood, told the Southtown Star newspaper. "I didn't think high schools build golf courses. We did a lot of work, and it looks phenomenal out here."

Helping Bush and his students complete the project was golf course architect Greg Martin.

"When I heard they were going to be building it, that's when I got excited," Martin told the Star. "When they get involved in design and construction, they begin to understand the full extent of the industry."

The Legacy course is set to open in the spring of 2010 and will cost nothing to play.

Click here to read the complete article from the Southtown Star

Email (will not be published)

Name

Title

Comment
 remaining characters

Post