An open-carpet Forum

When Columbia’s children think about the future of their city, what’s on their minds?

Believe it or not, health care, development, infrastructure, the environment and affordable housing are some of the most pressing issues cited by third- and fourth-graders at Grant Elementary — though they didn’t say it quite like that.

The Missourian contacted several elementary schools to find out what Columbia’s youngest generation wants for the community in 25 years. After all, our community’s leaders in 2032 will probably come from the ranks of today’s children.

Third-grade teacher Susan Williams and fourth-grade teacher Lisa Schenker, both from Grant Elementary, volunteered their classes to offer children’s visions of the future. What the Missourian found was that the students’ concerns aren’t terribly different from those of adults.

“We need more health finances,” said 9-year-old Ben Goodfellow.

“We need more parking downtown,” said Katherine Hammond, also 9.

“I think we should have a national airport instead of just a regional one so we don’t have to drive to St. Louis or Kansas City,” 9-year-old Tate Cooper said.

To share their ideas with the Missourian, Williams’ third-graders gathered on the carpet and raised their hands to talk about their city’s problems and to offer suggestions. Afterward, they worked individually on writing and drawing their ideas.

Schenker’s fourth-grade class worked with Grant’s media specialist, Cathy Hughes, to prepare a PowerPoint presentation with photos they had taken and captions they had written about their vision for the city.

The environment was a major issue for both classes.

“Cars should run on veggie oil,” 9-year-old Elliot McGlew said.

The fourth-graders’ visioning project called for clean public transportation, an alternative to smokestacks, more community gardens and no litter. One fourth-grade boy suggested a clean-up crew be appointed to keep Columbia’s creeks clean.

“The creek is always filled with trash, which I hate,” 9-year-old Robert Pummill said.

Many of the third-graders talked about preserving green spaces and protecting animals.

“We should stop taking away too many trees where birds and squirrels live,” 9-year-old Caroline Bocklage said.

Goodfellow said Columbia has “too many buildings.” Other students felt similarly.

“I think we should only have one Wal-Mart,” 8-year-old Kaya Nies said. “We don’t need three.”

One thing the city lacks, the third- and fourth-graders agreed, are things to do. Columbia is “boring,” they said.

Most of their suggestions were places for young people to gather: museums, pools, arcades, an ice rink, a zoo, an aquarium. The students especially wanted to see more parks and trails.

“We should have more places like the Shelter Gardens because it’s really peaceful and quiet,” 10-year-old Sarah Meadows said. “You can’t even barely hear the cars and it’s really nice there.”

Nine-year-old Macaulay Keevins wishes there were a children’s recreation center like MU’s Recreation Complex.

When one boy proposed game rooms in schools instead of classrooms, the other students disagreed.

“You can’t get a degree in video games,” one girl told him.

Asked whether they would like to not have school in the future, nearly all the students spoke against the idea.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind it,” 9-year-old Tate Cooper said, drawing out his syllables. “But we have to go.”

Believing in the importance of education, the children offered their ideas for making school more bearable. One boy suggested longer school days but with more recesses. Another said classes should meet every day, even on weekends, so that they could get home earlier each day.

Some third-graders had other ideas in mind to improve their school. They said they wanted water bottles in the cafeteria and new equipment on the playgrounds.

Both third- and fourth-graders said they wanted to be able to walk to school but couldn’t because sidewalks are damaged or nonexistent.

“And when it snows, they need to clear them,” 9-year-old Luc Goldstein said.

That’s just for starters. The students shared their thoughts on a range of issues, including the city’s smoking ban. For more of their visioning ideas, read on.