The dreaming begins . . .

Last evening the dreaming began.  We brought together about thirty people to begin the educational specifications process for a new, comprehensive 9-12 high school.  In the room were high school students, teachers, support staff, community members, administrators, business, and higher education representatives.  This team comprises the Design Advisory Group whose functions are shown in the diagram below.  This is a new process for us that is facilitated by our architects from DLR Group that over time could involve about 100 people in the work.

This is the first step of the process designed to begin dreaming of what the structure can be and  the functions that the structure must support.  We are designing physical spaces to provide learning opportunities for our graduates to be positioned for success in their post high school learning and work choices.  We are doing this not knowing what those careers might be and knowing that it may be fifty years before the community will have another opportunity to engage in this work.

The level of engagement in the room was high for the entire duration of the meeting with the students adding energy and insights from their critical context as users of the facility.  I am excited about the possibilities for the process and the make-up of this team to dream big as we bring life to this Regional Learning Center concept.