Local students Nicole Funk and Kelly Anderson joined more than 15 other students to speak their minds on what the 35 new schools– including the Bold Center high school – being built across the province by the government should look like.
The “Schools of the Future” workshop held in Edmonton last Thursday allowed students to voice their opinions to Minister of Infrastructure Ray Danyluk and Minister of Education Dave Hancock, and gave students a chance to have their say in the future construction of the schools which the provincial government recently announced.
“It was great to experience because we got to hear what everybody else thinks should be in their school and apply it to our school,” said Funk, a Dr. Swift Grade 8 student who will be going to the new Bold Center high school when it is expected to open in 2014.
The students suggested to the ministers to build schools with bigger hallways, more study space and a library at the heart of the school for the students of the future. The students also suggested that technology play a major role in the construction, specifically in the library, where students require fast computers, no encyclopaedias and more fiction novels.
“It was a great experience for us. It provided us with an opportunity to have the major stakeholders gather and tell us what works and what doesn’t,” said Danyluk, who is also the MLA for Lac La Biche-St.Paul.
Students also had a chance to build their own school model out of styrofoam and were asked to place areas like the library, administrative offices and gymnasium where they think it would fit best for students and staff.
“My group designed a school where students can have several exits to outside so teachers and students can take the learning outside,” said Anderson, a Grade 10 student at J.A Williams High School.
This was just one of the several consultations the two ministers plan on having for the schools being built, and there are plans to have a future consultations with staff and parents of the students who will attend the new schools.