Naavin Karimbux and Sarah Probst (both Class III) worked with Firsthand Projects this summer building a sugarhouse for a historic farm in Lincoln as part of a community architecture program. Firsthand Projects is a non-profit organization that provides teenagers with the experience of building, from design all the way through construction.
The sugarhouse project was almost entirely student-driven: Naavin, Sarah, and the other students on their small team were given some parameters—the sugarhouse had to be movable, since conservancy regulations don’t allow a permanent structure—and the students then came up with the design, brainstormed the best materials to use, pitched the design to the clients, and then built it.
“Complimenting the design and build program, [students] take weekly field trips to great buildings, Harvard's Graduate School of Design, MIT's Digital Fabrication Lab, and several top regional design firms.” (www.firsthandprojects.org) The project combines community service with problem solving, creativity, resourcefulness, applied mathematics and science, and even public speaking, all skills that Naavin says the Milton classroom primes students for.
For more information about Firsthand Projects, please visit http://www.firsthandprojects.org.
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