G.S. Lakie students and community partners team up for a different kind of learning

Smith says the beginning of the course is learning about the design process and brainstorming, and then they introduce students to the design process and a theme for the course.

“This year’s theme was our community, our school community, so their challenge was to come up with something that our school community needs and to design it. Wednesday was the day they build it, and they’ll spend the rest of the course finishing it obviously, and then promoting it, marketing it. Finally, they’ll put together their course-end celebration and present their journey through it.”

Lakie has 13 projects students are very excited about bringing to fruition.

Leading up to Build Day, students presented a ‘sales pitch’ to administration, and those sales pitches included sketches and inspirational photos. They also included a short speech about why they’re making their project and how it will benefit the school.

Smith says the help from community partners has been critical to the success of the program, and he’s grateful for how the community has stepped up.

“We’ve got Ashcroft Homes, Home Hardware, Burnco, Mason Construction, we’ve got a whole bunch of community members that have come together. We’re also partnered with some high school students from Chinook and Victoria Park working with kids as well. Every team has a builder, an expert assigned to oversee safety and help them go through the build process.”

Smith relayed that students were working on several projects this year, including:

– picnic tables

– a locking metal skateboard holder to mount by the bicycle racks

– a vertical jump tester

– outdoor ‘life-size’ chess pieces for a chessboard we made last year with 2’ X 2’ cement pads

– climbing pegboard

– planter

Lakie did this same course in the fall of 2017 and partnered with Ashcroft Homes, who sent five carpenters to help students to build five projects.

Ashcroft is helping again this year, and Dave Bodell from Ashcroft says he hopes the partnership goes on forever.

“It’s been a great project, it’s doubled in size from last year, and I think there were a number of students who wanted in because of what they saw then.”

Ashcroft Homes was invited last year to participate with the students and to help them build some of the projects that were designed and created.

“We brought plans, people and materials together, and this year we’ve got a lot more participation from tradespeople and the community.”

Bodell has known Adamson for years and years and explained that she approached him last year to ask if there was something we could do together to work with homebuilders in town.

“We’ve actually built a number of homes in the surrounding area here on the west side, so there’s a number of students here that live in our houses, and it was pretty exciting to work with them.”

The skills that students are getting a chance to learn are not only useful for school, but also for life.

“Some of these students here have never seen a drill, touched a drill, or don’t know how to use a saw. The people that are here are taking the time to make sure that they get that experience and it’s neat to watch. They may never be in trades or explore this, but just having a general knowledge and the ability to do this around their own home is beneficial.”

by Aaron Mahoney

G.S. Lakie students and community partners team up for a different kind of learning

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