KC-area students pitched a dog park for a school project. Then they made it real
Samantha Osorio didn’t want to have to leave her hometown to keep her German Shepard, Edith, happy. Not when Wyandotte County’s dog parks had the potential to be more than fenceless lots.
And not when she and two classmates at Washington High School had already gone through the process of drafting up plans for their ideal dog park as part of a class project.
“The main reason we continued pursuing it was we already had everything set up to continue pursuing it,” Osorio, now a dispatcher for the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, told The Star.
When Osorio, her childhood friend Maritza Hernandez and their classmate Daniel Angel-Franco were seniors in high school, they created what they thought would be a place where pet-lovers and pups alike could spend quality time together.
It was all part of an assignment in their English class, taught by local teacher Amanda Wisdom.
“We made it easy, where we could bring the community together,” Osorio said.
Little did those students know that two years later, when they were out of school and into the working world, their classroom renderings would become a reality, and they would be the ones to see the project through to the end.
On Nov. 17, Osorio and Hernandez joined their donors, supporters, Mayor Tyrone Garner and the Unified Government Board of Commissioners to break ground on their dream park.
Welborn Dog Park, which stands at 2520 N. 55th St. in Kansas City, Kansas, is officially open for public use. People do not have to pay for or register their pets to use the park.
The one-acre park offers space for pets to run and play, a gathering place for their owners, and separately-fenced areas for large and small animals.
“Kind of like their own playground in a way,” Osorio said.
From school project to reality
Osorio said she didn’t plan to take the project to government officials from the beginning. Rather, it was Wisdom, after seeing all the work her students invested in the project, who encouraged them to try to make it happen.
After all, they had already put in the effort. They might as well give back to their community, Wisdom said at the time.
So, the students reached out to the county’s parks department to help get the ball rolling.
The department was instantly on board, Osorio said.
“Being able to start it all and everybody being able to hear us out and listen to our ideas, it means a lot,” she said.
They needed to make the project happen without using tax dollars, Osorio said. So, with help from the parks department, they applied for grant funding through the Unified Government’s Hollywood Casino Grant Program.
The Wyandotte County Parks Foundation received $24,000 in casino grant funding specifically for the project and personally contributed $15,000 to the project. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK’s TURF Council also donated $20,000.
Already a popular place for pups
And although the park will soon see its first winter, Osorio said she’s confident people will use the space much more in spring.
That said, people immediately showed up with their dogs after this month’s ribbon cutting, Osorio said, adding that she and Hernandez posted about their project all over social media.
Angel Ferrera, director of parks and recreation, helped the students throughout the process of getting their park set up. She told The Star that she was impressed by their consistent dedication to the project, willingness to attend late-night meetings in order for their cause to be heard and desire to do something for the community.
Ferrera said it was particularly rewarding to see Hernandez, Osorio and Wisdom celebrate together at this month’s ribbon cutting ceremony.
“When young people are believed in, and they think they can do something, they’ll do it,” Ferrera said.
