Coming up on the halfway mark of the 2010/2011 school year, the new sustainability class at the Jasper Jr./Sr. High School has proven to be a huge hit with the 24 students enrolled. 

Teacher Adam Robb says the students have enjoyed the informal class schedule and the project-based lesson plans. 

Last year the sustainability club had great success. The students presented at the Living Future Un-Conference in Seattle, where two students were selected to do an internship this past summer with a green architectural firm. Robb said he was inspired by his students to seek a full-time class that would earn them credits towards graduation. 

“I think that inspired me to want to get more of this going,” he said. 

The class focuses mainly on projects. They meet occasionally outside of regular school hours, either at lunch or after school, sometimes at the high school and sometimes elsewhere. 

“The students enjoy that flexibility,” Robb said. 

What the students also enjoy is using practical skills in school and creating projects that could be used in real life. 

“They like doing something real,” Robb said. “They love the fact that it’s real projects, and they’re learning things that are going to be applicable after school. They (sometimes) have a hard time connecting the classrooms with real world things.”

The students also bring a fresh perspective that adults may not see.

“They don’t see the limitations the way adults do,” Robb said. “Which maybe is the way we need to look at things. For me it’s inspiring.”

Robb has taught the students green building language and jargon, and the students have focused on developing a vision for the new high school. 

“We’ve had a really mixed bag of projects,” Robb said. “The students will have created a vision for the builders and the architects to incorporate into the design.”

The class has spoken with the school board about the new design, and Robb said the board is keen to involve the students when the location is chosen and plans move forward. 

“It’s exciting for us,” he said. 

On Nov. 19 and 20, the class held a sustainable design workshop with two special guests. The work shop started with sustainable community design, and then moved onto building design on the Saturday. 

The building design workshop looked at the idea of building a green school. The students drew ideas from the Living Building Challenge, which challenges architects to construct self-sustaining buildings that fit into their surroundings, are beautiful and are functional. 

Robb said the students were interested in the idea of taking inspiration from Jasper “and not have your cut-out box-structure school, and [let] the design represent how unique our community is.”

One of the projects the students worked on was a student review of the Parks Canada Management Plan. They were approached by Parks to review the project as youth, and presented a video at the recent public forum. 

Eight students were hired by the Focus Corporation, who do community planning, to attend a meeting in Barriere, B.C. The students, plus Robb, went in October. 

The class will return to the Un-Conference in April when it travels to Vancouver for the 2011 edition. It is the largest green building design conference in North America. 

The class will continue after the New Year.