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U03
a u s t r a I i a
t&m
nLeather
"Outdoor
546-5014
downtown
We Have Your
lawrauNTRy
FAVORITES
Carolina Crabcakes • Georgia Pork BBQ
Florida Key Lime Pie
Charleston Shrimp & Grits
Saturday \ Sunc!a> •
fl'uutJoU
s 2 Mimosas
'3 Moody Man s
Open at 4pm Mon-Fri
Open at 11am Sat & Sun
- By the Loop -
2095 S. Milledge Ave.
706-548-3359
Do You Want to Stop Drinking Alcohol?
• We are conducting a study on a medication for treating alcohol
problems.
• Participation will include five in-person assessments, including four
sessions of individual outpatient treatment for alcohol problems.
• There is no cost for the treatment.
• You will be asked to take a medication or placebo on two occasions.
Call 706-542-8350 for more information.
The University of Georgia
Fowler Drive Elementary
NEW BUILDING, FRESH IDEAS
T he floor itself is a work of art. A map
of Georgia stretches from one end of
the hallway to the other, and one can
stand on a tugboat in the Savannah Harbor,
wander through downtown Athens and look
across from Five Guys to the arches that are
the library doors, or move to the commotion
of Atlanta.
Fowler Drive Elementary School's remodel
ing began in 2008, and as the school prepares
to re-open for students in January, the final
touches are being made to the design. David
Stubbs, the director of facilities planning and
construction for the Athens-Clarke County
School District has worked on 15 school reno
vations and sees each as an opportunity to
redefine the way schools are built
"In the education construction world,' he
says, 'the question is often asked, *Why are we
building the classrooms like we did 200 years
ago? What does the 21st-century classroom
look like?' And I'm not so sure that's the right
question. I think the question is, 'What does
that facility look like; why are we building
the facility the same
way?' The classroom
is basically four walls,
instructional materials;
the teacher's the key.'
He continues: "We
started having conver
sations about What
can the facility do to
teach? What can the
facility do to be active
in the education pro
cess? 1 We previously
^said that schools need
to be safe and invit
ing. Now we're adding
'engaging' to that. So,
we've taken, as a mas
sive change, this floor
pattern that you see:
you're standing on a
walk through Georgia.'
The floor pattern
doesn't stop with
Georgia. The school is
built with three wings,
each with an indi
vidual floor design. The
Atlantic Ocean begins near Savannah, where
students can see the evolution of a sea turtle
from an egg to a full-grown adult, as well as
dolphins and coral reefs. Students will also be
able to walk through the solar system—ren
dered to scale—as well as a hall illustrating
multiple time zones and various animals.
Other intriguing features in the school
include animal tracks in the concrete outside,
eventually leading to signs about each ani
mal; a cafeteria focused on products grown
in Georgia; and a garden outside with circular
concrete mini-theaters that by their arrange
ment can aid teachers in explaining sine,
cosine and tangent
"We have ceilings in some of the class
rooms that are fully exposed,' says Stubbs.
"They can see the duct-work and the pipes
and we painted it colors to just start engaging
a little bit more... Every time we made a move
architecturally, we asked the question: 'Can it
teach? 1 And I'm not deciding how it's going to
be taught, but I'm giving them that toot'
Even the school's plans to go green are
being used to teach students. Large cisterns
for rainwater collection, which are normally
placed underground, were left above ground
for students to see, question and team from.
"Water goes off the roof, collects in (the
cistern], goes through the building, goes into
a filtration room, goes through a three-level
filtration process,' Stubbs explains. "But
here's the best part: We have to stop and ask
the question: 'How can that teach? 1 We want
them to question that; we want them to see
that.'
Each aspect of the architecture of Fowler
Drive Elementary was carefully planned, from
the 'banana' shape of the hallway, a design
element intended to keep kids moving, to
the glass windows of the computer labs that
Stubbs hopes will be dirty with nose and
handprints from students curious about the
activities inside.
To Fowler Drive Principal Dr. Dale Rogers,
engaging the students leads to more than a
fun learning experience. "The primary purpose
of all of it is to make the school intriguing
and engaging and part of the instructional
program," Rogers says of the school's design.
"And part of that desire is because our chil
dren come from poverty, and if we're going to
David Stubbs explains the ceiling design of a classroom at Fowler Drive
Elementary School. Tiles were left off of the ceiling to engage students and en
courage them to ask questions.
turn them on to education, it has to be done
during elementary school... If we can get
them truly engaged and excited about learn
ing and exploring, and build their academic
prowess as well as just their resilience; if
we can do that and they can survive middle
school and high school then they have a
chance at a choice. So when they get out of
high school they have a choice of whether it's
college, tech school or the world of work, but
they have that choice and the opportunity to
move out of poverty '
Rogers tentatively plans to have an open-
house for the community on Jan. 28 to allow
Athenians to see what the school has to
offer and to take pride in the new building.
Students and teachers will begin the new year
in their renovated school
Tm looking forward to it I'm moving over
there Monday; I want to be on-hand," Rogers
says. "I think it's exciting, I think it should
be the future of where schools go, because I
think, in the past too often we've been mired
in tradition and tended to build schools for
adults rather than for the kids. We need to
build the schools for the kids.*
■HHi
CARLO NASISSE