Covent Garden Market picnic tables get a makeover from local students

A project that dresses up picnic tables at Covent Garden Market launched Tuesday, with the student creators on hand to explain their creations, included one with an augmented reality experience.

“Instead of just having like a picture of an animal, we can like have an animal walking around you. So that's just awesome,” said grade eight student Kirk Hallman.

Hallman was part of designing a picnic table that incorporated augmented reality into the design — a partnership between Mountsfield Public School and Exar Studios.

Students from different schools across Thames Valley have been working on these projects for a year-and-a-half, and have created beautiful designs for the tables at Covent Garden Market.

“This project began during full remote learning,” said Laura Briscoe, Thames Valley District School Board innovation coordinator. “And we were trying to find a way to bring community experiences and engage students. And while they were at home, how can we make an impact in our community even if we can't physically all be there in real life together?”

The students collaborated virtually with industry mentors to create the designs.