Lincoln High students advocate for South Haymarket Park skate park

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Students at Lincoln High School are working to make their dreams a reality by bringing a new skate park to the Capital City.

As the plans for the city’s South Haymarket Park have been revealed, one of the most anticipated features is the new skate park. Throughout the process, students in Lincoln High’s Skate Club have partnered with organizations, working to advocate for the skate park and sharing what skaters want to see happen.

It all started about two years ago when students involved with the Lincoln Skatepark Association heard what the organization was doing to bring a new skate park to Lincoln.

“I think the skate park has been, like, proposed for years, like a really long time, but it hasn’t had a lot of community interest,” said Tiegan Gunning, a member of LHS Skate Club. “And so I think that Skate Club had like a big impact in that because it helped be like, ‘hey, the community would like this.’”

Since starting the club, students have worked to raise awareness about the impacts of skate parks, help with fundraising events, and visited other skate parks to gain inspiration for what they want to see implemented at South Haymarket Park.

“It’s really awesome that we’re able to be a part of building a whole new skate park,” said Gianna Morris who is also a member of the LHS Skate Club. “I think it’s really cool that they’re taking community input and having meetings that are coming up to design the skate park.”

One of the club’s sponsors, Emily Trauernicht, said it’s been inspiring to see students work toward something the whole community can benefit from.

“Having a collection of people from the community with all ages and all backgrounds to come together and talk about what they would like to see happen in our city is a really great opportunity, I think for the greater Lincoln Community to make something happen for our future generations,” Trauernicht added.

Trauernicht said the Skate Club will continue to gather input on the skate park alongside the Lincoln Skatepark Association. Construction on South Haymarket Park is planned to start in 2024 and is anticipated to open in 2025.

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