Community gardening and waterfront park design | Waterfront Ambassadors Photo diary
A visit to Spectacle Island kicked off the second week of the Waterfront Ambassadors summer program.
The 114-acre Spectacle Island, owned and operated by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation and the City of Boston, is open to the public with options for hiking, boating, and swimming. Accessible by ferry, the public park is one of 34 islands and peninsulas that make up the Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park’s network of open space—including World’s End in Hingham, which is owned and managed by The Trustees.
Later in the week the Ambassadors met with staff from Wellington Management to learn job readiness skills including personal brand and the importance of having an array of hard skills and soft skills. The group also prepped for mock interviews which will take place during the second half of the program.
Later that afternoon, Ambassadors traveled to Eastie Farm’s Secret Garden site on Chelsea Terrace and spent the afternoon weeding and clearing brush. This gave the teens an opportunity to learn about the new greenhouse, which will utilize an innovative geothermal system and allow for year-round operations.
Wrapping up the week, the Ambassadors met with Associate Principal Chris Donohue from the landscape architecture firm designing Piers Park III, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. The waterfront park design is currently in a second draft version, utilizing community feedback from meetings, surveys, and online comments. Donohue shared the process behind this work and engaged the Ambassadors in a design project, where the teens were challenged to draw their own designs for park features. The Ambassadors were curious to learn about the history of Piers Park, how it came to be, and what is involved in designing a landscape.
The Waterfront Ambassadors will also help to gather local feedback on the current design at events throughout the summer. An updated Piers Park III design incorporating more feedback will be shared with the community later this year, with public meetings being scheduled in the coming weeks.
In addition to the community meetings, options to send comments in online and via text will remain open throughout the design process.
Below are the Ambassadors' favorite photos from the last week:
In 2022 this program will run for seven weeks in July and August and will incorporate a variety of job-readiness and other enrichment sessions in addition to community projects. This program is being supported for a third summer by presenting sponsor TD Bank through the TD Ready Commitment.
To see past blogs from this summer, click here.