Urban planning and development isn’t in the curriculum for most high school students, but Leah Keith-Houle’s scientific research class at Red Bank High School isn’t the average class.
In the fall semester, she had her students work together for months to plan and create a viable replacement for the former Red Bank Middle School property. In December, as their final, they presented their idea to Mayor John Roberts and the city’s board members.
And, fittingly, it wasn’t an ordinary student pitch, Keith-Houle said. Her students put together a 55-minute presentation for a techno-urban park at the location, replete with a plan to recycle rainwater using porous concrete and pavement, solar trees to help people charge their devices, an outdoor gym accessible to people of any age, a musical amphitheater to host live music and plays, a solar-powered pavilion the students thought could hold farmers markets or picnics, and more.
More impressively, through the assistance of their teacher and sponsoring mentors, the students were able to create a realistic budget for the plan.
The sponsoring mentors included people in a local urban design office, the entrepreneurial nonprofit agency Causeway, and more.
“I thought they did a wonderful job – and everyone there seemed to agree,” Keith-Houle said with a laugh. “The mayor was so impressed, he immediately stopped and spoke with the principal and me after it ended.”
According to Keith-Houle, Roberts asked if her class next semester could look into possibilities for an abandoned gas station in the city. He has hopes the students will come up with a viable plan to turn it into a cycling hub to help connect Red Bank with the cycling measures Chattanooga has put forth.
Although she is thrilled with her students’ success, Keith-Houle isn’t surprised. She’s worked to tailor the class to present real-world opportunities to her students, and their appetite for that kind of learning speaks for itself.
“People respond to real projects when they can see the need and what it could be,” she said. “These students aren’t aware of what people our age think we can or cannot do. They just ask how they can do it. It’s very empowering.”
Keith-Houle worked as a geologist for a bridge building firm prior to becoming a teacher, so she has unique experience that helps her educate the students on the intricacies of their projects. She can tell them easily whether their idea for construction would be feasible or not, and she’s worked to inform them of the importance of budgeting properly.
Even when the students’ plans fail or don’t work as planned, they don’t relent.
“That’s what’s been so remarkable,” she said. “I don’t have to tell them to keep at it.”
In addition to their projects locally, Keith-Houle keeps her students busy with more international projects. According to her, they will work for anyone who has a problem.
For example, when Hurricane Matthew was approaching Haiti last year, Keith-Houle had her students participate in HOT, or the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. The project is a volunteer collective that creates comprehensive street maps of remote locations in the event of a disaster. By using GPS imagery, field maps and aerial images, volunteers can create more complete maps of anywhere in the world.
“I had four classes mapping so that when the hurricane did hit, first responders could take the maps we built and use them to rapidly find people,” Keith-Houle said.
She doesn’t need to explain why these projects are important to the students. According to her, they understand already.
“It gives them a sense of ‘I can do this,'” she said. “That’s what we need to tell young people: We can tackle these problems together and find a solution.”