November 17-21, 2025 is Geography Awareness Week. GeoWeek was created by National Geographic to encourage young Americans to become more involved in the world around them. This year’s theme is Making Spaces of Possibility, announced by the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Become a GeoAdvocate and look for the possibilities in your spaces. Is there an old park that can be spruced up? Is there an old parking lot that can be turned into a skate park? Is there an old building that could be turned into a community center?
For this year’s GeoWeek, we challenge students to become geographers and design their own park. Student geographers will go out into their community to find a location that would make a good park. Use spatial reasoning to imagine how your park will look. Take note of the geography and any hindrances the location provides. Take lots of notes and drawings of your chosen area. Back in the classroom, design your plans. Create a detailed drawing that incorporates the geography of the location, as well as what your desired park will look like. Include detailed notes as part of your drawing. Then, write up a script to act out for the class. You can choose to do this in person, or record it to be played. Your presentation should mimic what you would say to a board in charge of building your park.
Extend this activity by creating and mapping a new world with our Project Geos resource. Download a free sample here. For additional materials, AAG provides a classroom kit that includes posters, stickers, bookmarks, and more. Download this kit here.
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