For the past academic year, four Olds College students worked on designing a new front space for École Olds Elementary School.
The project was done for two mandatory horticulture program courses.
“Everyone in the course seeks out a project with a real-word client and which we can use the skills we have gained over the last few years and implement that,” said Trisha Cawood, Olds College student.
A group of École Olds Elementary School teachers approached Olds College instructor Gord Koch for help last fall.
“A few of us have taught here for a really long time. We have been going up to this building for many years and looking at it, thinking that it was an uninviting place to arrive at,” said Helene Fisher, Grade 1 and 2 teacher.
“The students think it is a great place to learn and they would really like the outside of the school to look the same way.”
After talking to Koch, Fisher, and teachers Debbie Unger, Jane Atkins, and Deb Thompson put together a proposal. The teachers were then invited to a presentation day at the college, where they presented their proposal.
“We crossed our fingers that one team would pick us,” said Fisher.
Cawood did, along with Shane Shierman, Chad Fawcett, and Andrew Smith. Even though none of the students had landscaping experience or knowledge, they decided to take on the project as a challenge.
“When we were presented with this project, it was sort of a front entrance revitalization with interest in an outdoor classroom and school naturalization,” said Cawood.
“The Calgary Zoo has a school naturalization program called Grounds for Change. It basically is this idea of getting rid of some of our paved areas and integrating native plant materials to basically revitalize greening at the school.”
The students and the college met countless times during the year. The students also did four surveys in order to know what teachers, students, parents, and the community wanted.
“We gave the students a proposal of what we thought. We were really flexible. We wanted a space that invited people to be part of that environment, whether it was the classroom or the parents,” said Fisher.
“What we gave them to work with was pretty vague. We did not even give them a definitive space until near the end when they were ready to start solidifying things.”
The students presented the project to the school in late March, before turning in definitive plans last week. The result is a green space that will occupy a small section of the school's front staff parking lot. There will be plants, trees, benches, and a paved area big enough to accommodate a classroom for outside teaching.
“It's been an incredible experience. We learned so much,” said Chad Fawcett, Olds College student.
“The committee here at the school has been such a great help for us too. They guided us along the way and they have given us a lot of help and a lot of feedback throughout the way.”
The team of teachers unanimously approved the project plans.
“For us, the benefits are absolutely tenfold, a hundredfold because they are doing a job for us that we would not have been able to do otherwise,” said Fisher.
The teachers are now hard at work, trying to find and secure funding to make the school front green space a reality.
“We are going to get all the funding in place first and we will get an estimate on that after our final design is in. We won't start to build until we are ready to go financially,” said Fisher.
The school has already received a couple of grants, and students are chipping in by raising money through recycling.
Fisher hopes to have the green space done within the next year.
“We think that if we get everything in place and we get all the materials, then we will do a weekend prep and another weekend build,” she said.
