The ASK Academy hosts mini golf night

RIO RANCHO — The ASK Academy held a Mini-Golf Night Dec. 11, and all mini-golf courses were built by their seventh-grade students.

“Ms. Davis has worked so hard. It’s phenomenal what she has done,” Principal John Keelin said. “Last year, she did this project, and it was five holes. So, just in a year, she’s more than tripled the size of her event, turned it into a community event.”

It was a night that included Dion’s pizza, drinks and 26 student-constructed mini-golf courses (13 downstairs, 13 upstairs).

“I challenged our kids to create a miniature golf course,” seventh-grade teacher Stephanie Davis said. “To have that connection with our community, for people to get out, have some physical activity, and just smile and have a great time.”

Attendees bought tickets, and all proceeds made from the night will fund next year’s Mini Golf Night.

“We tried to make it New Mexico-themed. That’s why we have the hot-air balloon representing the Zia symbol. We also have the Sandia Mountains on our course,” said student Jeremy Wekesa said, one of the masterminds behind that Sandia Mountains mini golf course.

Putters were also created by students. In fact, the only thing not made by the students were the golf balls.

“Our school focuses on PBL (project-based learning). Ms. Davis does her first semester with our seventh graders in her ‘Flight and Space’ class. This is one of their projects where they created a mini golf course,” Keelin said.

Students zeroed in on one question before starting their project: “How can we design and build a mini-golf course that provides fun and challenging obstacles and gives our community an opportunity to engage in physical activity?”

Seventh graders were encouraged to choose a theme and then go through the “engineering process,” which includes research, planning, building, testing and improving.

“There are some themes that are super creative like a Disney one that was really cute, and then there is a dinosaur ‘Jurassic Park,’” Davis said.

The “Dinosaur” course, which was heavily influenced by the film “Jurassic Park,” played the score of the hit 1993 film in the background as players putted.

“You go up, you go through the boneyard, then you encounter the T-Rex, you put through its legs, and that’s where the hole is,” said student Liam Torres, who built the dinosaur mini-golf course.

The seventh graders also worked with the eighth-grade art class to create visual components for their mini golf courses.

“The eighth graders had to be the employees. For the seventh graders to tell them what they wanted, and the eighth graders to give them what they needed was a huge learning weight which is far beyond what we ever thought it was going to become,” Keelin said.

“We really tried to incorporate the waves of the ocean, coral fishes, also we did some ‘SpongeBob’ concepts,” student Charnis Mbueha said. Mbueha created the ocean mini-golf course along with Giovanna Donato, Elliana Robinson, and Rewa Singh built the course.

Thanks to Davis, a new tradition has begun at The ASK Academy that allows students to work together to showcase their creativity.