North Eugene High School

NEHS
200 Silver Lane, Eugene Oregon • 541-687-3261       

NEHS :: Home >>


North Highlander logo

 

The Garden Learning Center Project

Click through the photos to tour our vision for the project

  • Let's turn this muddy field into something GREAT!
  • We have 14,400 square feet that is currently unused
  • Students will help create the Garden Learning Center
  • Student design for one of the outbuildings
  • The Community Garden
  • Student and Community Gardens
  • The Herb Garden
  • The Berry Garden
  • Amphitheater space
  • The Zen Tea Garden
  • Learning space for seed and genetics projects
  • Indoor preschool-garden space
  • Seed experiments inside the greenhouse
  • A possible preschool classroom space
  • Another possible preschool classroom space
  • Preschool-sized garden space
Thumbnail panels:
Now Loading

 

 

Our Goal

possible classroomThe overall goal of the project is to convert an empty lot on the school grounds into an area that will educate as well as beautify the community. The Garden Learning Center will allow for the connection of all the small schools on the North campus and the integration of multiple disciplines, including science, art, music, child development, theater, social studies, construction, and business education. The project has several components:
• Greenhouses
• Garden Space
• Composing and Soil Development
• Amphitheater
• Tea Garden
• Child Development Center

 

Student and University of Oregon Involvement in Project Development

NEHS students will be highly involved in the designing, building, and maintaining of this facility. Construction projects will utilize the metals, woods, and construction programs already established at North.

Additionally, we are working with the U of O School of Architecture in the fall of 2006 to create a master plan. This work will be done with advanced architect students working with NEHS students to design and also begin work on building some of the structures.

 

The Greenhouses

garden beds• One or two 30’x 50’ greenhouses
• Good work space for a class of 30 students
• Growing space for enough stock for a plant sale
• An area for starting seedlings with irrigation, heat, and grow lights
• Easily maintained floors
• Storage shed
• An opportunity for students to work on seed and genetics projects

 

The Gardens

• Individual student-grown vegetable gardens
• One possible design is twenty 4’ x 20’ terra-form (a recycled product that is easily assembled and long lasting) framed raised beds
• A minimum of 15 working spaces (for 30 students)
• Areas for perennials (such as strawberries, asparagus, flowers)
• A research area which includes an open space and spare garden beds
• Bushes, berries, and vines
• Community garden
• Herb garden

 

Composting and Soil Development

• Composting garden and cafeteria waste
• Worm composting
• Mixing soil for gardens and greenhouses

 

Amphitheater

An outdoor venue to perform musical and theatrical pieces with seating set into the landscape

 

Tea Garden

A cross between a Zen Garden and an art gallery ~“a peaceful interlude”

 

Growing tomatoesThe Child Development Center

NEHS students are involved in a series of classes where students reflect on the responsibilities of parenthood and issues involving today's families. The students see how young children learn, how they respond to directions and how guidance can be a positive learning experience.

As part of this program, students operate a preschool where they plan and carries out activities with children under the supervision of the adult staff.

Facility Features
Overview
• Child development classes where students work with and teach children
• Observation area
• Creative indoor spaces
• Art studio spaces within the classrooms as well as a central art studio
• Classrooms for infant/toddler, preschool, and after school care
• Indoor gym
• Natural outdoor spaces
• Gardens and a small greenhouse especially for the Pre-K students

6,500 Square feet that will include an infant/toddler room, two pre-kindergarten rooms, an art studio, an office and entry/parent area, and an observation/high school classroom.

play structureThe outdoor area will include opportunities for high school students to work with preschool students on projects (garden, small greenhouse, rock landscape design, play areas that can be ongoing design options and can be moved and developed by the preschoolers and teachers), large rocks, paths, bushes, forts, trees, a cob playhouse, logs, etc.

The observation room will allow students to observe all learning spaces through one-way mirrors.

The entrance area will be an enclosed plaza that includes a reception area and offices, sitting area, books, games, a central gathering place, literacy-rich themes from children’s books, book shelves, writing tables, etc.

In each classroom there will be an area to display art and create art in the spirit of exploration and the documentation of learning experiences. There will also be a central art studio that will serve in the afternoon as the after-school care area. Professional artists, teachers, and high school students will work with early childhood students and after-school students in this studio setting.


SEARCH THE NEHS WEB SITE

Google
WWW www.nehs.lane.edu

Community gardeners

The Vision

Our vision is to create a place for learning through art and the natural world.

We envision a place where students experience healthy lifestyles and develop an environmental awareness

The Garden Center will allow high school students to learn, work, and inspire younger children in the context of an urban garden with ongoing student-centered projects.

The Outdoor Garden School will be an educational area that will be used to serve:
• Biology students
• Art Students
• Students in the early-education program at NEHS
• Preschool students

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia Schools in Italy and the United States to create an environment that “supports exploring, learning, and living."

 

Philosophy

Edith Cobb (1977) in The Ecology of Childhood posits that the innate connection with nature in childhood and the poetic voice within us provides the basis of our creativity as adults. Natural materials such as sand, twigs, and stones according to Cobb help children in understanding the world through their construction play efforts.

The compatibility of the building and a well-designed landscape can help communicate the message “this is a place for children.”

Materials such as bricks, wood, glass that can be laid by hand, lend a human scale. Such materials are also easier to grasp, reach, walk around and embrace than expansive sheets of metal or huge blocks of concrete. Exterior surfaces should display warm materials like bricks, stucco, adobe, wood, and rammed earth, as it is easier to connect children to the sources of these materials.

 

Funding

The projected cost of the entire project is $365,000. We have hit the ground running with a $6,000 Meyer Memorial Trust grant. If you would like to help, call Renee Stacy or Kay Graham at 687-3261.


We've just launched a new ONLINE STORE to make it easier to support NEHS. Go to our online store.