Wright Students and Staff Help Make Community Playground a Reality

During the third week of May, students and staff from Wright Tech were hard at work helping to turn a dream into reality in downtown Stamford. The dream was to build a Community Playground along the Mill River which runs through the middle of the city. The Mill River Collaborative made up of over 3,000 volunteers from local government and businesses in the Stamford area was determined to create the 26 acre "World Class" Playground in a just a week. And that they did with the help of Wright Tech.

Sid Abramowitz, Principal of Wright Tech, said that he was approached by the Mill River Collaborative to help with the project. "We had a lot to offer them," said Abramowitz, "our Culinary Arts students helped feed the workers by making over 1,000 sandwiches, baking brownies and cookies. Our construction trade shops built 50 saw horses and saw tables. Even our maintenance crew pitched in to prepare the lumber for the playscapes." 

Students from the Plumbing and Electrical program also put in a lot of sweat equity by working on the construction of the playground itself. Akon Stephenson, a Junior in the Electrical program, said, "It was really nice working on this project. We got to meet and work with a lot of people who work for big companies in the area." Wright Tech students worked side by side with volunteers from large corporations such as General Electrical, Pitney Bowes and UBS. Chairman of the Mill River Collaborative Arthur Selkotwiz had only praise for the Wright Tech students. "They have been fabulous. They have been here every day rain or shine working very hard to get this project done on time," said Selkowitz. 

Ryan Kennedy, a Sophomore in the Electrical program, summarized the feeling of most students working on the project. "It feels good working here. We're working together with a lot of people to help the community."