A group of fourth-grade students who made a presentation to the city council Monday night deserve to be commended for a job well done. With a proposal for a year-round recreational center, they set an example many adults could follow on civic involvement and professionalism.

The students’ idea is to create a center that could be used in the winter for activities like mini golf, laser tag and other games, all of which would surely be popular with kids from around the area.

In putting the proposal together, the students did all the research they could, checking on costs and examining possible sites. In the process, they surely learned plenty about their city as well as the process by which citizens can be involved. The experience will be one that prepares them for active participation in their communities as adults.

Teacher Sandy Sorenson from Lakeview Elementary School should get part of the credit for her students’ work, but nobody deserves more credit than the students themselves.

Whether their idea is realistic depends mostly on them and how far they are willing to take it. The success of the Albert Lea Skate Park shows that with lots of effort and creativity, a project like this can become reality. The &uot;Kids’ Kingdom&uot; center would be an even larger undertaking and would require extensive fund-raising efforts, but nothing is beyond the scope of possibility for those who are willing to work for it.

That’s a lesson that all of us would do well to re-learn once in a while.