Students are pulling out shovels and digging something new on Milwaukee’s Northwest side.
Granville Lutheran School, a Christ-centered K-8 run by LUMIN Schools, and Menomonee Falls-based J.H. Hassinger Construction officially began building a student-designed meditation garden Tuesday.
Students planned, budgeted and designed the garden as part of J.H. Hassinger Construction’s “There’s a Place for Everyone in Construction” program, which introduced Granville Lutheran students to the construction field through education and hands-on activities.
Avante, a seventh-grader at Granville Lutheran, is looking forward to spending time at the garden.
“I would like to go and visit it and just relax and plant some seeds and grow some vegetables,” Avante said.
J.H. Hassinger Construction is hoping to finish building in late June, said Jennifer Delaporte, director of business development at J.H. Hassinger Inc.
Student-led process
Students worked in teams to create several designs before pitching them to judges.
Eighth-grader Noel Payton led the team with the winning design.
The site used to house a small bird sanctuary. Delaporte said the new garden is an upgrade to the bird sanctuary and will be lined with perennials and roses.
Noel’s team will incorporate several stones engraved with Bible verses for students to reflect on as they meditate and pray in the garden, Delaporte said.
The garden is a manifestation of “There’s a Place for Everyone in Construction,” a first-of-its-kind program formed to address inequity and job shortages in the construction industry by La’Ketta Caldwell, director of the Opportunity Academy at LUMIN Schools, and Delaporte.
Noel and other students learned how to design within a budget, scale projects to the right size and pitch designs, he said.
They also learned about the variety of opportunities in the construction field ranging from design to accounting. J.H. Hassinger hosted hands-on construction activities – one of Avante’s favorite parts.
“They let us honk the horn of the vehicles and stuff,” he said.
Alex Klaus is the education solutions reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsroom.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
