Earning a $500 prize for their school, a team of sixth graders at Stewart Middle School came in third in the regional Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) 2009 design competition with their concept of a School of the Future. This was Stewart’s first year in the annual competition, and from the response of the students, it will not be the school’s last entry, according to teacher Edith Stewart.
“The Stewart team was commended for their approach to multi-cultural diversity and integrating core values promoting students to be responsible not only to themselves but to each other, their community and the global environment,” said Stephen Murakami, Hutteball & Oremus Architecture. The Stewart students would have assemblies celebrating cultural traditions held at their school of the future with support from the community. Dancing, singing and oral tradition would be the focus of these gatherings. Foreign language study would start with eight different languages, including sign language. Special care was used in addressing accessibili
ty for all, added Murakami.
Along with the traditional curriculum, botany would be taught through lessons on the site of the school of the future. The Stewart team identified several species of plants to be highlighted in roof-top gardens and plantings throughout the site. Along with the botany program, interrelated programs would include recycling through composting of kitchen waste and fertilization of the planting areas. Bird watching classes would be integrated in the planting areas which would be set up to promote local bird habitats.
The competition for these Stewart students began in Edith Stewart’s two sixth-grade classes. Students on 11 teams had mentors from the industry: architects, civil engineers and electrical engineers, landscape architects and others. These mentors were also sounding boards for the teams, offering paths for investigation. Students had to research green and sustainable features for schools and had to include community involvement, cultural heritage and use of recycling in their presentations.
Stewart said, “This competition has been so valuable education-wise for our students.” In addition to doing extensive research, Stewart students had to prepare a three- to five-minute PowerPoint presentation and a 750-word narrative description documenting the planning process and rationale. They also drew up floor plans and scale drawings and created a tri-fold display board with supporting materials. From the drawings, they had to create a model of their school of the future. The team then gave the presentation on their concept before a panel of judges, both at the school and regional level.
This year, outreach to more than 175 middle and junior high schools in Washington drew 250 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades in five school districts to participate in the competition. Murakami said, “The beauty of this program for the chapter and members is that the competition provides a much needed and direct connection to the end users of our facilities.”
Pete Wall, director of Planning and Construction, said “We were very impressed with the competition and the level of participation across a wide spectrum of students, especially the creativity and sophistication of the students’ presentations.
The School of the Future design competition offers an opportunity to illustrate the kind of creativity that students can bring to the planning and design process. The competition highlights the importance of well-planned, high performance, healthy, safe and sustainable schools that foster student achievement and enhance community vitality. The annual competition, open to middle school and junior high students, challenges student teams to design their schools to enhance learning, conserve resources, be environmentally responsive and engage the surrounding community. The multi-disciplinary solution requires students to follow a planning process from the concept phase to completion of the project, with thorough documentation. The students then present their project to a jury for review.
Teachers are encouraged to use the award-winning School of the Future design competition curriculum and outlined lesson plans as a starting point for the creative ideas of the participants in the student design competition and to develop skills in math, language arts, communication, leadership, science technology, architecture and facility planning.
The National Association of REALTORS® and CEFPI sponsor the School of the Future competition.