POWERGRAMS

100% CONNECTED Photos by Marvin Gilmore Auburn students beautify Greensboro with APC aid Rural Studio students helped create a maze playground using 55-gallon barrels. Greensboro is transforming. Auburn University's Rural Studio is helping the revival, as it has in other Alabama towns. In 2004, Greensboro leaders approached Rural Studio with a proposal to create a public park from a 40-acre industrial area owned by Hale County, the Greensboro Lions Club and the city of Greensboro. Rural Studio students facilitated a phased reconstruction, adding a skate park, a mobile concession stand, two basketball courts, a peewee football field and a playground built from old 55-gallon barrels. The city is creating a parks and recreation board to oversee maintenance. At any given time, there are a dozen Auburn students working at Greensboro's Lions Park. Rural Studio projects there include landscaping and building a Boy Scout hut. With the help of an Alabama Power Good Roots grant, the students transformed the park into a place the community enjoys, said local officials. Greensboro Business Office Manager Susie Harris has been impressed with the students on this and previous projects. "They're a great group," said Harris, who worked with the landscaping team as they applied for the Good Roots grant. "They've worked so hard for our town." The Auburn students catered their project to the needs and unique landscape of the former industrial space. There are several rain gardens in locations where Henderson waters tree in grove. students had seen rainwater pooling. The team planned foliage around blooming cycles, so trees near the football field will blossom during football season. The students relocated several native oaks to shade the most visited areas of the park. The new landscaping incorporates slopes and planting of native perennials ON THE COVER: Alabama Power Service Organization Magic City members distributed more than 500 backpacks to students in Birmingham. Photo by Bill Snow 2 to use rainwater and create a relatively low-maintenance but still-attractive area. The team used as many native varieties as possible, including longleaf pine, dogwood, eastern redbud, bald cypress, Shumard oak, willow oak and red maple. The park has a cherry grove and several small butterfly and wildflower gardens. Native trees create small "rooms" within the park in the midst of a walking trail. The students who've helped build Lions Park offer more to the Greensboro community than their professional services, said Harris. They have pledged time as volunteers to complete the work, living in Greensboro or Newbern for the extent of the project. Jessica Cain, Benjamin Johnson and Alex Henderson, the students in charge of the landscaping phase, said they have learned from their time at Lions Park. They now have experience in grantwriting, as well as landscaping, which they knew little about before. "It has been a real lesson in community," said Cain. "There's a lot to be said for small-town living." By Allison Swagler

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