“Playgrounds are significant for many reasons, including maintaining physical fitness and creating important social challenges,” said Victoria Somma, assistant principal. “The program proves what I’ve always believed, and that is how talented our middle school students are.”
   The students and faculty began designing plans for the playground last fall. By utilizing their math, history, writing and reading skills, classes came up with an outline of their dream playground and worked with TPL to make it a reality, said Principal Rosalyn Allman-Manning.
   “The creativity and energy of our students, combined with the expertise of design engineers, architects and art teachers, leaves a legacy for our entire school community,” Allman-Manning said.
   The playground, funded in part by the Starr Foundation, features new play equipment, an artifical turf field and running track, basketball courts, bleachers, game tables and a large mural that was created by the school’s art students. TPL also removed a fence in the yard, which expanded the space by more than 30 percent.
   State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) and Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park) were on hand at the opening celebration, which kicked off withperformances by the school’s chorus, followed by a description of the design process by students Victoria Ng, Jasmin Maldonado and Dashan Maddox.
   M.S. 210 is the 40th school TPL has worked with to create a playground.
   “We were working with the mayor to look for schools in the community that needed additional recreation space,” said Mary Alice Lee, director of TPL’s New York City Playground program. “Ozone Park is a community with a lot of families and the space was previously cracked asphalt with no amenities.”
   TPL’s next Queens project is a new playground at P.S. 143 in South Ozone Park. The project will be unveiled next month.