NIACC News Release
| May 24, 2002 Area Students Participate in First Design-Build Playhouse Project Students from 4 area high schools recently participated in the second Design-Build Playhouse project sponsored by the Contractors’ Advisory Association of North Iowa Area Community College’s Building Trades Program. High schools participating were Charles City High School, North Iowa High School, Osage High School and West Hancock Community School. Each year the NIACC Building Trades Program hosts a career guidance activity designed to build partnerships with high schools in North Iowa. In an effort to add variety to the event, NIACC Building Trades instructor Andy Wermes and the NIACC Contractors’ Advisory Association (CAA) invited area high schools to participate in a design-build Service Learning activity in which the high schools would design and build a playhouse. Each playhouse was required to have a 48 square-feet base in any design the students wished, walls could only be six feet in height, and the playhouse had to take into consideration the safety of small children such as no glass, no sharp objects, etc. Each school participating received $350 from the CAA to help with building costs. High school students began the project in the middle of February and completed the project by the middle of May. The playhouses were then transported to the NIACC campus where a team of architects and members of the CAA judged the playhouses. Categories and winners were:
Each school chose a non-profit preschool or childcare facility to donate the final project to. Charles City High School students will donate the playhouse they constructed to The Learning Center in Charles City. North Iowa High School students will donate the playhouse they constructed to the North Iowa Early Childhood Center, future home of the Little Bison Child Care Center in Buffalo Center. Osage High School students will donate the playhouse they constructed to the Growing Tree Preschool in Osage. West Hancock Community School will donate the playhouse they constructed to Hancock County Child Development Center in Garner. "We feel that the Design-Build Playhouse projects were a real success," Wermes said. "We want to continue to encourage high schools to build their construction programs and engage their students in service learning activities." ##### Ref. 2120 |
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