Documentation Examples
For Children, By Children: The World Trade Center Memorial Park
School: Corlears School, Chelsea, New York City
Documentation by Brigid McGinn, Amy Walter, Barbara Lieberman, and Nancy Opitz
Narrative by Melissa Rivard and Brigid McGinn
"Grown-ups think about grown-ups, so we make a place where kids can think about kids. It is easier for grown-ups to be sad, because they are already grown-up. But children have to go through a lot of changes. We have to grow up and be sad. That is why we made our park." - Rebecca, age 7
In September of 2002, in the wake of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Rebecca, along with nineteen classmates in the combined "6/7s" class from Corlears School in Chelsea, New York City, embarked on a study of playgrounds and parks. The class emerged with a comprehensive design for a memorial for children of the victims--an imaginary place for all children to address their fears and experience some comfort and security in an increasingly frightening world. The teacher of these first- and second-graders, Amy Walters, did not set out to have the children design a memorial to the World Trade Center. The idea emerged from the children.
