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CE Club November 2017 Update

Land Development with Foresite Group

Julia Dang, Josh McNeill, Travis Pruett, and Brian Morris of Foresite Group, a loyal partner to  the CE Club Program in Dallas, led their now famous land development activity with the Woodrow Wilson HS students. This great group activity illustrates 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 development.  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 to decide where and how many grocery stores, houses, apartment complexes, strips 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 can be found online here.

 Habitat for Humanity Build Day

Ashlyn Kelbly, PE of Kimley-Horn, and a Habitat for Humanity Core Volunteer, helped organize a build day for the Woodrow Wilson CE Club students in south Dallas. Ashlyn and Jonathan Brower, ASCE Dallas Branch Director, volunteered from 8am to 3pm with the CE Club students nailing up foam board and siding all around a four bedroom house under construction. The students got to climb on ladders, cut foam board and siding panels, and do lots and lots of nailing!

At lunch time, the students asked lots of questions about home construciton and how Ashlyn got involved with Habitat for Humanity to begin with. We hope to have another build day with more CE Club students in the spring!

Photos from the build day can be found online here.