When you walk into the library and look to your left, a rectangular table from the entrance to the wall displays orange, pink, and purple pieces of paper that have been crafted into 3D buildings. A bright blue dolphin lies at the front of the table. Behind it, a red, chicken-piloted airplane soars above 3D pikachus, squirtles, and charmanders. A panda sits in the front seat of a limo. This is Love Town.

First grader Olive Bracken-Sáenz, distinguishable by her Superwoman shirt, striped skirt, and leggings, was the creator of Love Town. She listed some of the town’s primary attractions. “There is the sweet shop, there’s the bank that got ripped off, there is a library, and there is a carwash,” Bracken-Sáenz said. “There is also PAWS, hair salon, airport, and Love Town Airlines.”

For librarian Annette Lesak, the McDonald’s, hair salon, and dolphins are enough for her to say that she would want to travel there.

The first, second, and third graders who worked on Love Town wanted to put the project in a visible space, according to Lesak, so she and librarian Mary Catherine Coleman decided to house it by the hallway windows.

Parker PM teacher Elizabeth MacGilpin described the origin of the town.

“A bunch of students, one student actually, came up with the idea in first grade, and it developed into this huge town, and they decided to call it Love Town,” MacGilpin said. “She just used her imagination. She was the one who started it all, but multiple hands went into it, like every day it was someone else working on it.”

According to MacGilpin, the students named the town “Love Town” because they love everyone. The construction of Love Town began during an indoor recess in Bracken-Sáenz’s class.

“We were trying it on flat paper at first,” Bracken-Sáenz said, “and then I decided maybe it should be 3D and then we didn’t know it was going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. But it got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, so we couldn’t work on it in class anymore, so we had to work on it in Parker PM.”

Working on Love Town became so popular that Parker PM had to have a sign-up sheet stating that students could touch the project only if they agreed to work on it, according to second grader Owen Zeller. But, Zeller added, they ran into problems because people would sign up to touch the project and never work on it. Both Bracken-Sáenz and Zeller displayed

Zeller and Bracken-Sáenz, along with other first, second, and third graders, were building Love Town for approximately two weeks, according to MacGilpin. As more people started to get involved, the details of the town became more intricate. MacGilpin noticed that the students became passionate about adding more dimensions, such as sand and pipe cleaner figurines.

Parker PM students are already building surrounding towns. Bracken-Sáenz says that she and Zeller have been giving ideas to the other Parker PMers who want to start their own towns, such as Ocean Town and Dragon Town. Ironically, Dragon Town has “smiley faces, no dragons, just animals” according to Bracken-Sáenz.

Another such town was created by first grader Josie Laufer.

“Cat Town,” she said. “It’s fun, and it has a tall body. A really tall body. The funny part is that it has a fish tree ‘cause cats really like fish.”

Towns, it turns out, can be individualized.

“I got the idea from Love Town, and I really love cats,” Laufer said, “so I came up with Cat Town.”

MacGilpin believes that the work that has been a result of the Parker PM students building towns, specifically Love Town, embodies Parker’s motto to think of the school as a community and a place where all ideas are accepted.

“I love it,” she said. “I think it was great because they got to use their imagination. We had nothing to do with it. It was all their idea in terms of coming up with it. And I love the name because it represents them just loving each other, having fun at school, and this is their town.”