An animatronic Mrs. Claus nods knowingly inside the Gumdrop Green House while elves and a service dog slowly sway outside over a campfire. Lollipops and candy grow outside a gingerbread house and a squirrel pops out, with nuts and candy between his paws, over and over like a coo-coo clock. Santa Claus himself and his trusty elves watch the radar and slowly design a new sleigh while lights twinkle overhead.
These are scenes that 21 juniors at STEM School Chattanooga helped create and are a part of what has become an annual holiday tradition in Chattanooga - EPB's holiday windows. The newest crop was unveiled Wednesday night.
For five years now, EPB has worked with students to brainstorm, design and build the windows as part of the school's mission to provide real-life, project-based learning.
"For us, we have things that we focus on like innovation, collaboration and critical thinking, Collaboration is one of the tenets of our school and they are demonstrating that in so many ways with this project," said Ken Kranz, the school's Fab Lab instructor. "It's a chance for the students to actually design and fabricate things that can be made and put into the holiday windows."
The STEM School is one of several in Hamilton County that has a digital fabrication lab where students can use the latest technology and tools such as laser cutters, 3-D printers and more to bring their idea to life.
Students spend three to five hours a week - in class, in the evenings and on the weekend - for the first and second quarter of the school year working on the windows. Part of the project, which includes small-scale models, behind-the-scenes videos, and the actual construction, includes documenting problems and how they solved them.
Kenny Tran, 16, a junior at STEM School, said being able to see his work come to life was his favorite part of the project.
"Being able to work with EPB and go down in the warehouse where they constructed everything and see how your work is actually being used," he said.
One of his group partners, Ethan Everett, also a 16-year-old junior at STEM School, said it took a lot of "patience, time and hard work."
The boys helped create Santa's control room near the main doors into EPB's downtown headquarters. The theme of this year's windows, "Spirit of Chattanooga," gives them an entrepreneurial, innovative spin.
Mayor Andy Berke greeted the crowd gathered before the unveiling and described the city as a "city of creators," as evidenced by the window scenes.
The project also provides the students the opportunity to work not only with their peers, but with EPB employees and Step Up interns that helped design the concept over the summer.
Kranz calls the partnership "a win" for the school and its students.
"For many of them this is their holiday tradition, and when they get to 11th grade they look forward to working on this project," he said. "It's by far our most popular project."
The school, which opened in 2012, is a magnet school for students in grades 9 through 12. With a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), students have a project-based learning class each year.
EPB's holiday windows are among several unique projects that also include partnerships with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the prosthetics manufacturer Fillauer and greenspaces, a local nonprofit focused on sustainability.
Each of EPB's seven street-facing windows along Market Street, Broad Street and M.L. King Boulevard are decorated each year to feature a holiday scene. The displays are unveiled annually the night before Thanksgiving and continue to shimmer and sparkle through Jan. 2.
Contact staff writer Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.