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John Coleman from Viridian gives a tour of the new FHS to EAST students.
EAST Students Tour New FHS Facility to Learn About Environmental Features
Mark White's FHS EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) students recently toured the new Fayetteville High School facilities with John Coleman from Viridian, a sustainable building consulting firm serving as the commissioning agent for the project.
The tour began with a brief overview of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and handouts including a project checklist and list of specific features in the building. According to the US Green Building Council website, "LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality."
Students toured the interior and exterior of the building to gain an overview of the environmental features and intentional design. Topics covered included stormwater management, lighting selection and control, material and paint selection, acoustics, and indoor air quality.
Sreynin Ke, a sophomore EAST student, thought, "It was really interesting to learn all of the good and bad things about the building and the changes that make it more environmentally friendly."
Sophomore Antonio Juarez also found the tour interesting and he previously did not know about a lot of the intentional design features. He also said the facility was, "healthier and better than I thought."
The new facility is an excellent tool for teaching students about environmental design, engineering, architecture, and a variety of other fields that may spark an interest in future educational and career decisions.
EAST teacher Mark White believes it's important for his students to be aware of their surroundings and how and why they were constructed. He said, "Students are the ones who benefit most from our new campus, they utilize every aspect of the building for learning, socializing, athletic events, eating lunch, and of course the performing arts; so having a working knowledge of the facility and how it functions is important."
Students will continue to learn more about the building and help educate other students and the community about LEED. A smaller group of students will work on the project throughout the year in their EAST class. "We hope to design signage, both digital and traditional, that will inform the student body and the public about our facility. We want to focus on the checklist and specifically the areas where we scored the highest, but we also want to dedicate some of our time on the points that we did not receive and how we can affect possible change in the future," said Mark White about the future project.
Click here for more information about the Sustainable Building Practices at FHS.