By RAN KONG
News EditorSterotypes abound about Smith being a school attended by violent sudents who don�t have an ounce of intelligence in them, but the students of Anita Well�s class are evidence that those stereotypes are false.
Wells, a Technology Education instructor at Smith the last 11 years, has her students putting their well-won knowledge to practical use. The most notable project is one to design inter-connecting paths through a Greensboro neighborhood.
�Ms. Wells gives hands-on projects and students can relate to her,� said Brandon Isaac, a third-year student.
The Tech Ed class consists of three levels, the first being open to all and the second and third level accessible by invitation from the the instructor. The students advancing to the third level are planning on pursuing a career in architecture, civil engineering, computer science and other related careers.
It is the third-level class that has performed a deed that really raises the image of all Smith students. The Glenwood Neighborhood Association (GNA) suggested a project to the class and Wells� students divided the project into two parts. The first was to design a bik trail that connected five elementary and one middle school. The second part was to work on restoring the Grove Street shopping area, an unsightly and unsafe business district in Glenwood.
Students in the Tech Ed class volunteered to help in this project to get the chance to practice and put into use the knowledge and skills about architectural designing that they have acquired over the past two years to benefit the community. They also decided to use this opportunity to receive a project grade. Students began the project last November and will continue working on it through June.
�I�m extremely proud of these students,� Wells said. �They were very committed.�
That is the essence of her program. A rare commodity in today�s fast-paced world, commitment is what makes these students stand out. Their hard work has not gone unnoticed. They have received accolades from city government officials and the Greensboro New & Record did a feature story on Wells� class.
The class as a whole participated, but the designing of the bike trail is credited to Erik Cecil, Brandon Isaac, Tim Conner with help from Paco Hill, Brian Green and Ai Sysourath.
The designing wasn�t simply tracing some lines along possible routes. Before the bike trail could be designed, the students had to get maps that dated to 1965 and 1991 to compare changes in the neighborhood�s infrastructure. They also used aerial-view maps to observe the neighborhood.
Afterwards, they drew a plot plan for a trail that was safe for students to bike to school. The trail will also be used for recreation and exercise.
Once the trail had been designed, Ceci, Isaac and Connerpresented the bike trail to the GNA committee, which accepted it immediately. The next step was writing a proposal to the Greensboro City Council.
Not only was the bike trail a complete success, but so was the second part of the redevelopment project � the restoration of the Grove Street shopping area.
This business section was unsafe and unattractive. Illegal drugs sales in and around the shopping center had run off legitimate business. The students in Wells� class who are working on this project include Chris Smith, Mark Morgan, Chris Lane, Justin Houglan and Ja�mein Thomas.
The entire class boarded a bus a bus one day and drove to this area to take pictures and to videotape it. Back at school, the students discussed possible solutions that would help restore the area to attract both businesses and consumers.Some of the suggestions they came up with to offer to Grove Street business owners are repairing building fronts and sidewalks, painting buildings and using a church parking lot for sidewalk sales.
Methods that John Hubert, Phyrun Rin and Mike Graves suggested to make the area safer included adding street lights and establishing a neighborhood watch program.
These students also want to reduce or even solve the problem of illegal drugs in the neighborhood by placing a police satellite station in an abandoned building and then cleaning up a drug house.
To get homeowners involved in the restoration project, the Smith students proposed planting flowering trees, organizing a neighborhood cleanup day and have a �Nicest Yard� award each month.
Ran Kong is a junior honors student who is ranked in the top three of her class.
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