The project is to build a new playground for the Harold O. Levy School adapted to the dangers of climate change, and the students have been given a major assignment.  

“When it rains, the water stays in, and sometimes people kind of trip,” said Brenda Carino, a sixth grader working on the project.

With the help of the experts gathered by the Trust for Public Land, the middle and high schoolers in Inwood are dictating how their new yard should be.

“We are trying to create a new field that can absorb more water and is also better for climate change,” said Andrew Servin, an eighth grader.

Since 1996, the Trust for Public Land has designed and built 225 playgrounds across the five boroughs.

“I think it’s so important for the users of the park to be designers of the park. Coming in and working with the students who are going to play on this yard, I think it really makes for a better design,” said Mary Alice Lee, director of the Playgrounds Program at the Trust for Public Land.

One of the finished yards at P.S. 184M in Chinatown.

It was built after Hurricane Sandy. The turf field absorbs 1.3 million gallons of stormwater each year.

Another climate-friendly feature is found in the gazebo.

“Special about this gazebo is just how it drains out the water and how the water flows into pivotal points, where it eventually flows out into the river,” said the school’s principal Jeremy Kabinoff.

The Trust for Public Land looks for schools in lower income areas, and the renovated playgrounds stay open beyond regular school hours for children to enjoy.

“Students definitely know what climate change is, and this is a really wonderful way for them in their own community, making a difference,” said Lee.

Paid with public and private funds, the playgrounds cost an average of $1.8 million.