COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Designed by Texas A&M architecture students and made possible by a $750,000 donation from the university, the Becky Gates Children’s Center is now home to a new playground.
“I believe there were over 24 different designs and so what we did is we took those and we marked them all up of what we liked,” BGCC Director Erica Ritter said, “then they combined all of the undergraduate work into one final design, which is then what we presented to the professionals to create this playground space in.”
Ritter said this playground is a dream for her and the other teachers.
“It's phenomenal for so many different reasons and so we wanted to try something different to be a little bit innovative and bring nature back to what it means to be outside and what it means to have an outdoor classroom so to speak,” Ritter said.
Ritter said the kids love the playground because there are so many things they can do.
“They have acted out skits, in certain areas, whether that's on the bridge from a book that they've read, they absolutely love planting in the garden beds and we have lots of like herbs and things they like to smell,” Ritter said, “I know a lot of the kids love the outdoor kitchen they love getting in the mud and they'll even write their name in the dirt because that's a lot of fun.”
To the A&M students who designed the playground and the University for funding the playground, Ritter said thank you.
“We couldn't have done it without this huge collaborative teamwork and we're so grateful that the University supported this project,” Ritter said.
Ritter said she feels they did it right involving so many people in this project.
“We involved the students here on this campus, and then now we're prepping these youngest Aggies to hopefully be future Aggies and that's one of the coolest things about it,” Ritter said, “to see that kind of baton get passed to generation to generation.”