MON-B06: Shape the Future—One Schoolyard at a Time

Monday, October 13, 2025

10:15 AM – 11:30 AM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Julie W. Gawendo, ASLA

Director of Landscape Planning
SITELAB urban studio
San Francisco, California
Danielle Denk, ASLA (she/her/hers)

National Director Community Schoolyards Initiative
Trust for Public Land
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jennifer Santry

Director Tribal Community Schoolyards
Trust for Public Land
Lamy, New Mexico

There are nearly 100,000 public schools nationwide, and schoolyards can become vital centers in every community. This session examines transformative strategies for urban and rural schoolyards and a playbook for growing the movement through policies and funding strategies that position community schoolyards as a national standard—and a defining opportunity for the profession.

Learning Outcomes:

Understand the important role that professional designers can play in transforming schoolyards—and in turn, our future leaders—through policy changes and innovative designs.
Examine transformative strategies for urban and rural schoolyards, emphasizing scalable, system-wide approaches to maximize their role as multi-use spaces for play, learning, cultural connection, and environmental impact.
Learn about the importance of public funding in schoolyard improvements and how communities are crossing this threshold on a local, state, and national level.
Explore the challenges and opportunities in schoolyard transformations, how they can be leveraged to enhance the public realm, and how to actively contribute to this critical movement.