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CE Club November 2016 Update

Land Development with ForeSite Group

Maria Eichhold, Josh McNeil, Julia Dang, Ricky Carreno, and Travis Pruett from ForeSite Group, once again, put on a wonderful presentation for the CE Club.  They led a group activity that illustrated to the high school students how land development teams must work together to achieve an under-budget, efficient, profitable, and welcoming community.  Each student was given a specific role to personify on a development team:

• Developer – interested in getting the most return on investment
• Home Owner’s Association Chair – concerned with the long term residents of the community and the impact the development will have on property values, quality of life, and comfort
• City Planner – concerned about boosting the city’s economy while also meeting the community needs
• City Economic Developer – interested in the revenue the new development will generate and the jobs that will be created
• Mayor – up for re-election and interested in making the community members as happy as possible; gives the final approval of the layout

Students were given a site plan with four blank city blocks that was bordered by a neighborhood, a major highway, and commercial land. They were given a budget and a list of possible buildings and spaces that could fill up these four blocks, along with a cost associated with each building or space.  Students then had to assume their roles within the development team and decide where and how many grocery stores, houses, apartment complexes, strip malls, pharmacies, parks, homeless shelters, schools, and community centers would be placed on the site plan.  Students quickly realized the importance of patience and communication when each team member has a different agenda for the development. Each group then had to present their new development to the whole class while justifying the decisions they had made. The ForeSite Group engineers then offered constructive feedback of each team’s development.  Additional photos of their visit to the WWHS CE Club can be found online here and here.

Field Trip to Corgan and Denton Landfill

A group of the top students from Mr. Carver’s Civil Enginering/Architecture  Design class were given the opportunity to go on an all-day field trip in early October. The day began at the offices of Corgan Architects where Janah St. Luce, a frequent speaker and mentor for the CE Club, gave the students a tour of the workspaces of many architects and the Corgan Media Lab. Students were able to ask questions to various architects about their daily work and interesting projects they were working on. Pictures from the Corgan offices are available online here.

Next, the students traveled up to Denton where they were given a tour of the city landfill by current ASCE Dallas President, Frank Pugsley of Parkhill, Smith, & Cooper. Frank walked the students through the waste management process and how civil engineers play a major role in the design, maintenance, and operation of landfills. Photos from the tour of City of Denton landfill are available here. 

Core Volunteer from Habitat for Humanity

Ashlyn Kelbly, a Core Volunteer for Dallas Habitat for Humanity, presented to the students at Woodrow Wilson on the inner-workings of the organization. Ashlyn explained how interested families can apply to become Habitat for Humanity homeowners and how Habitat is not simply “giving away” houses. The organization is primarily targeting families earning somewhere between 25%-60% of the area median income and requires the families to go through home ownership and mortgage classes in addition to putting “sweat equity” (or volunteered build hours) into their home.

The students were then shown a couple of the six floor plans that Dallas Habitat for Humanity has available for the homes. There is also a variety of façade options for the houses, which is primarily the result of requests from the Dallas City Council to add some diversity to the Habitat for Humanity houses popping up in various neighborhoods.

Ashlyn then asked the students to list off what they thought some of steps to building a home might be. Students mentioned important things such as: lot size, soil conditions, surrounding area, trees, and wildlife. Ashlyn also explained how Habitat for Humanity has to do their due diligence to check the zoning requirements, flood plain status, access to public water utilities, and access to fire hydrants for the prospective house locations. Students were then given a large sheet of paper with a typical blank lot for them to develop their own house plan. Each team was given a different set of criteria ranging from: ease of construction, maximizing floor space, and architectural features. Each group then presented their house plan design to the class and provided justification for their design.

Ashlyn also showed pictures of all these steps and certainly built plenty of excitement for those going out to the build day the following Saturday. Pictures from Ashlyn’s in class visit are available here.

Build Day with Habitat for Humanity

Mr. Carver and fifteen students from the CE Club woke up bright and early on a Saturday in mid-October to work all day on a Habitat for Humanity house in Joppa, TX along with Ashlyn Kelbly and Jonathan Brower (ASCE Dallas YMs). The day started off with a brief safety meeting in the driveway, and the students were quickly put to work nailing sheathing onto the stud walls, cutting wood, and building the porch beams.   

The day was filled with learning experiences about home construction (and a few hammered thumbs). Several students asked about coming back again to volunteer and ASCE Dallas hopes to keep the CE Club involved with Habitat for Humanity. A special thanks to Ashlyn for arranging a weekend for the students to volunteer their time! Pictures are available online here and here.