OHS student talks to ministers about future schools

Kurtis Layden, an Olds High School student, was among a group of students invited to Government House in Edmonton last week to talk to Dave Hancock, minister of education and Ray Danyluk, minister of infrastructure, about new schools the government is planning on building. Layden was the only student from Chinook's Edge School Division to participate in the session.

The government recently announced that it intends to spend $550 million in 35 new and updated schools in communities that are seeing rapid growth.

“They discussed for the day different plans for facilities and … the way education is run and the different integration of study spaces, like libraries,” he said, noting that it was roundtable in format.

Layden said he thought it was excellent that the ministers would sit down with students to take in their views.

“You could tell at the end of the day the ministers felt that they got a lot out of it and that they really valued the students' input. And so that was big. I think the students felt that they were well represented and that their ideas were clearly communicated,” he said.

Layden talked about the new high school and how hallways were able to be eliminated in large part to create more efficient use of space. Layden said the quad space at the high school has worked well, integrating the common area, cafeteria and then study spaces that are separate from that.

“There's such an extensive access to resources at the school that I think that students have the ability to … obtain resources, is just phenomenal at the new facility,” he said.

One of the things that Layden said came out of the session last week — and that has been largely eliminated at OHS — was the frustration students have of so much space being wasted as hallways.

“It's a great facility and such an innovative … way of looking at things,” he said.

Layden said he hopes some of the key themes students talked about — incorporating green space and natural light — will be taken into account by project managers when designing new schools.