Jasper is home to an award-winning school.
Last month, the brand new Jasper Joint School Facility was recognized with the 2015 award for “Outstanding Design of a New Construction” by the Alberta chapter of the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI).
“Our kids deserved a new school and now they have an award-winning school,” said Grande Yellowhead Public School Division Trustee Betsy DeClercq. “We’re all incredibly excited about it—I think it’s so wonderful for our school and our community.”
The new school, which houses both the Jasper Junior/Senior High School and École Desrochers, opened in September 2014, after nearly a decade of planning and hoping. In 2005, the idea of opening a joint school was first discussed and it was because of that decision—bringing both the public and Francophone school divisions under one roof—that Jasper finally got its school.
It was in 2011 that the provincial government announced that it would invest $550 million in schools around the province, including a new school for Jasper. Construction of the building began in 2012 and two years later, students entered the building for their first day of school to discover a facility full of personalized features.
Among other things, there’s a living wall, a music room that opens to the grand staircase, as well as the gym, outdoor classroom spaces, a room dedicated to recycling, smart water fountains that tell students how many plastic bottles they’ve saved by filling up a reusable water bottle, a roof designed for future solar panels and a library with two-storey windows that showcase spectacular mountain views.
The design award was announced in Banff during a CEFPI conference. There to accept it was Ken Baluch, Grande Yellowhead’s director of facility services, and Robert Rabinovitch, a senior partner with Workun Garrick Partnership—the bridging architect and designer of the facility.
“The Workun Garrick Partnership is proud to have been involved in the design of the Jasper Shared School Facility and very proud that this facility has been recognized by CEFPI as the best new school facility in Alberta for 2015,” stated Rabinovitch in a press release.
“We wish to thank the efforts of all those involved in the design process. The success of this project is due to the cooperation of all those involved and it was a pleasure to be a part of this process.
“We wish the students of Jasper many years of success in their new award-winning facility.”
Nicole Veerman
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