Edison High School
Students Partner Up With USGBC to Learn About Green Buildings
USGBC-CC started
2014 off by partnering up with students from Edison High School’s Green Energy
Academy to learn about green buildings. The program, “Measuring Green Buildings”,
had Architects, Engineers and Contractors actually go into the classrooms at
Edison High School to provide the students with real-world learning
experiences. The experts engaged students with such diverse topics as:
construction management, commissioning energy systems, acoustical
performance, “green” building materials, and architectural design strategies.
As part of the program, students had the rare opportunity to actually
test the acoustical performance of one of their classrooms. After the
experience, one of the Edison students commented, “It was something new and new
things are always great. I didn’t really know much about buildings, but after this experience, I now look at
buildings with different eyes.”
Green Energy
Academy’s Teacher, Taylor Vizthum, expressed his excitement about the students’
keen interest in learning, "In a class of High School Seniors, during the
last class of the day you typically expect the students to become ever vigilant
"clock monitors", however, during
this project, the guest speakers and content was so engaging, they persuaded
students to remain after class because they still had questions they
wanted answered."
After the
educational hands-on learning experience students prepared posters that they
presented at the “Green Schools Tour”, which took place at Edison High School’s
new award winning building. The tour provided another rare element of
learning – networking opportunities. This collaboration with
Professionals actually working in the field is crucial for the seniors as they
graduate from High School and plan their future.
“Industry
partnerships are one of the key elements as we aim to prepare our students for
the challenges of the 21st century, and meet the needs for better Science Technology Engineering
and Math (STEM) education.
Opportunities as such bring context and
relevance and help students connect to their learning. We are grateful
for having organizations like USGBC in our community, who are willing to help
us connect with the industry and help better the educational experience of our
students, and inspire them
to pursue STEM fields”, reported Ellie Honardoost, Program Manager of the
Office of College and Career Readiness at Fresno Unified. Members of the
USGBC and general public were invited to attend the event and learn about the
High School’s program and building. The event was a great success!
USGBC –
Central CA Chapter would like to thank all of the volunteers from Edison High
School, Architects, Engineers, and Contractors involved in the project. A
special thank you goes out to the Project Leader, Kjirsten Harpain from Darden
Architects, who did an awesome job bringing experts together and working with
the teacher to design the curriculum!
These
programs are put on through the generous support of our Sponsors. As a
non-profit, USGBC- Central CA Chapter needs your support to educate and connect
people in the Central Valley. Sign up for sponsorship today!
