As a native Minnesotan, I love ice skating. And though it’s admittedly pretty cool to glide around Mariucci Arena during open skate, going around in circles gets tiresome when you’ve done it five days in a row.
As a result, not long ago, my friends and I began searching for somewhere we could play some low-key pond hockey. But what we found was much better than we expected.
We stumbled upon the Van Cleve Recreation Center. It had not only a huge area where we could skate, but also a warming house. When we decided to take a peek inside, there was a sign indicating that ice skates were free for public use. Additionally, there were other resources available, including free tutoring and computers.
While Van Cleve is a wonderful addition to our community, the space around campus is severely lacking in this type of recreation center. Perhaps if more people knew about the benefits of this park, they would feel more supportive of building additional ones in the area.
In general, community centers with the quality of Van Cleve’s are few and far between. That said, wherever they’re found, they prove incredibly beneficial to citizens. Not only do they foster a sense of community that many places lack, but they also provide an opportunity for exercise — something which, as a college student, I don’t always get a whole lot of.
In order to keep local community centers up and running, it’s important that we not only utilize them as much as possible but also support the funding of their projects and volunteer at them when needed. By doing this, students and citizens alike will be able to take advantage of these urban getaways.
Maddie Eaton welcomes comments at [email protected].
