April 28th, 2018
21st Century Classroom
SACS and SATEC join in 3D Vermont Competition
By Grace Borst
Innovation Specialist at St. Albans City School
On Wednesday, April 18, Jackson Hayes and Nick Crespin, two St. Albans City School (SACS) students and Makenna Montgomery and Haylee Newhall, students from St. Albans Town Educational Center (SATEC), teamed up to present about their participation in the 3D Vermont Town History Competition at the Maple Run Unified School District’s (MRUSD) board meeting.
3D Vermont is an annual competition that combines historical research with 3D modeling and printing. This was a new venture for both St. Albans schools. The students began the project in January. Their first task was to research historic buildings in St. Albans and pick one. Each school decided to focus on their own building. Jackson and Nick selected the Fairfield Street School, located on Fairfield Street, because it was close to their houses, and they wanted to learn more about it. Makenna and Haylee chose the old Post Office and Courthouse building on Kingman street, so they could learn more about why it wasn’t being used anymore.
Once the buildings were chosen, the hard work began. The students had to learn extensively, not only about the history of the buildings, but about each building’s architectural style. They soon discovered the best resource for this task was the St. Albans Museum. The students took a field trip with their teachers and got a real white-glove treatment! They actually had to wear white gloves when they were handling the original documents. This was a great way to find primary source documents about their buildings.
This project was a careful balance of research with creativity. The students all had to learn a new 3D design software called SketchUp. This software is used primarily for architectural design and is even used in professional careers. Each school plugged away designing and researching, coming together every other week to check out each others progress, and learn from each other. They would often figure out shortcuts and tricks in the software and share them with each other.
As the deadline neared, all of the students started to feel the pressure. Makenna and Haylee were working tirelessly trying to figure out how to put windows on a curve while Jackson and Nick realized their entire school building was unprintable because something was deleted and made their design 2D rather than 3D. This project really tested their ability to persevere as well as challenged their problem solving skills! Jackson and Nick did not give up and, 3 weeks before the competition, scrapped their entire design in Sketchup a n d started fresh. Makenna and Haylee figured out how to put their windows into the curved sides of the building and moved on to their building’s peaked roof.
The competition was held in Randolph at the Vermont Technology Institute, on March 30. The week of the competition the students were finishing up their final touches and met to prepare their presentation and table materials. Over the course of the 2 hour planning time, the students created and practiced their presentation over and over again because they weren’t going to see each other again until the day of the competition. At the end of that time each group had come up with a plan for what they needed to do from then until the competition. They were so ready.
March 30th was a very cold and rainy morning and the students had to wake up extra early on what would’ve been a day off for them. They were very excited to see what was in store for them. The students had the opportunity to present their research and models to two groups of judges. They were also asked questions by people attending the event. As Peter Drescher, the director for Educational Technology, was calling out the winners the students were taken off guard when they heard their schools called for second place. They quickly went up and collected their prizes, grinning from ear to ear. Immediately after they started coming up with a plan for the following year. Within 5 minutes they had decided they wanted to have a similar structure, but instead of starting in January they wanted to start in August when school began. They also wanted to make sure they made matching swag such as t shirts, so they looked more professional. They were excited to see that their hard work, time, and energy paid off.
SACS and SATEC join in 3D Vermont Competition
By Grace Borst
Innovation Specialist at St. Albans City School
On Wednesday, April 18, Jackson Hayes and Nick Crespin, two St. Albans City School (SACS) students and Makenna Montgomery and Haylee Newhall, students from St. Albans Town Educational Center (SATEC), teamed up to present about their participation in the 3D Vermont Town History Competition at the Maple Run Unified School District’s (MRUSD) board meeting.
3D Vermont is an annual competition that combines historical research with 3D modeling and printing. This was a new venture for both St. Albans schools. The students began the project in January. Their first task was to research historic buildings in St. Albans and pick one. Each school decided to focus on their own building. Jackson and Nick selected the Fairfield Street School, located on Fairfield Street, because it was close to their houses, and they wanted to learn more about it. Makenna and Haylee chose the old Post Office and Courthouse building on Kingman street, so they could learn more about why it wasn’t being used anymore.
Once the buildings were chosen, the hard work began. The students had to learn extensively, not only about the history of the buildings, but about each building’s architectural style. They soon discovered the best resource for this task was the St. Albans Museum. The students took a field trip with their teachers and got a real white-glove treatment! They actually had to wear white gloves when they were handling the original documents. This was a great way to find primary source documents about their buildings.
This project was a careful balance of research with creativity. The students all had to learn a new 3D design software called SketchUp. This software is used primarily for architectural design and is even used in professional careers. Each school plugged away designing and researching, coming together every other week to check out each others progress, and learn from each other. They would often figure out shortcuts and tricks in the software and share them with each other.
As the deadline neared, all of the students started to feel the pressure. Makenna and Haylee were working tirelessly trying to figure out how to put windows on a curve while Jackson and Nick realized their entire school building was unprintable because something was deleted and made their design 2D rather than 3D. This project really tested their ability to persevere as well as challenged their problem solving skills! Jackson and Nick did not give up and, 3 weeks before the competition, scrapped their entire design in Sketchup a n d started fresh. Makenna and Haylee figured out how to put their windows into the curved sides of the building and moved on to their building’s peaked roof.
The competition was held in Randolph at the Vermont Technology Institute, on March 30. The week of the competition the students were finishing up their final touches and met to prepare their presentation and table materials. Over the course of the 2 hour planning time, the students created and practiced their presentation over and over again because they weren’t going to see each other again until the day of the competition. At the end of that time each group had come up with a plan for what they needed to do from then until the competition. They were so ready.
March 30th was a very cold and rainy morning and the students had to wake up extra early on what would’ve been a day off for them. They were very excited to see what was in store for them. The students had the opportunity to present their research and models to two groups of judges. They were also asked questions by people attending the event. As Peter Drescher, the director for Educational Technology, was calling out the winners the students were taken off guard when they heard their schools called for second place. They quickly went up and collected their prizes, grinning from ear to ear. Immediately after they started coming up with a plan for the following year. Within 5 minutes they had decided they wanted to have a similar structure, but instead of starting in January they wanted to start in August when school began. They also wanted to make sure they made matching swag such as t shirts, so they looked more professional. They were excited to see that their hard work, time, and energy paid off.