Marybeth Lima
Focus on
Faculty
Cliff & Nancy Spanier Alumni Professor of Biological & Agricultural Engineering By Danielle Kelley Photo by Larry Hubbard
Marybeth Lima
“I want people to feel like they can accomplish extraordinary things by doing ordinary things together.”
Alumni Professor Marybeth Lima understands that in order for local schoolchildren to play hard, she must work hard. Lima, director of the Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership, and her Biological Engineering 1252 students have created 28 playgrounds for local public schools since 1998 as part of the LSU Community Playground Project. Most of the playgrounds are located in East Baton Rouge Parish, but her work has extended to surrounding parishes like Iberville and Ascension. She splits her students into nine groups to design playgrounds for one school. By the end of the semester, the nine drafts are collaborated into one project. “The more designs that you have, the more creativity you have,” Lima said. “I really want the students to capture the soul of the community.” Each LSU student is required to visit the grade school at least eight times a semester to serve as a reading partner. In serving the community, the designers better understand the personality of the school to create unique playgrounds. The groups present the drafts to the children before the final designs are put into place. Lima said the children’s opinions are important because “they’re the experts at play.” “The kids are unfiltered, so my students might get a standing ovation or they might get booed,” Lima laughed. “That’s why the students work so hard. The kids are tough, but they’re fair.” Lima said seeing the finished project can be rewarding for herself, her students, and the children. “When the playground is actually built, the kids are amazing. They own the space. [The LSU students] are so excited. It’s like their ideas are translated into reality. That’s a powerful thing for my students, and also for the community,” Lima said. Because Lima has worked with the LSU Community Playground Project for 15 years, her service sometimes comes full circle. One of her current students played on the playground Lima’s students designed years ago at Villa Del Rey Elementary School. That student is now writing grants to help Villa Del Rey gain a prekindergarten playground. “I think sometimes young people, my students, don’t feel like they can contribute in a great way to the health of our communities, but they can. They really can. They show me that every day in class, in life,” Lima said. Besides building playgrounds, Lima said she wanted to reveal to her students through the LSU Community Playground Project that engineering is an accessible profession that can create change within a community. LSU Press approached Lima and asked her to write her first single-author book recounting her 15 years of experiences with the project. Building Playgrounds, Engaging Communities was released in February. Lima said she hopes the book will encourage young people to believe it is possible to “really make a difference for the common good.” “I want people to feel like they can accomplish extraordinary things by doing ordinary things together,” she said. “[My students] are so committed to making the world a better place.” Danielle Kelley is a sophomore in the Manship School of Mass Communication concentrating in public relations.
50 LSU Alumni Magazine | Summer 2013