Iowa BIG North students work on 'BLDD' initiative

Iowa BIG North’s move is still right on schedule.
The progressive school program helps businesses in local communities find solutions to problems. This benefits the business, as well as the students in Iowa BIG North, as they work on authentic problems together. Students from participating schools work as one, across district lines, on the initiatives. At this time, the schools include Charles City, Osage, Rudd-Rockford and New Hampton, and Iowa BIG North is looking to add Turkey Valley and Riceville to that list.
The New Hampton branch of the partnership is growing by leaps and bounds. New Hampton had 12 students in the program last year, that’s moved up to 32 this year, and it is expected to continue to rise in future years. That’s made it necessary for the Iowa BIG North to move its New Hampton center from the current downtown location to the bus barns. Originally the sights were set on completing the move in December of this year, but now they’re hoping for next fall, at the start of the school year. That project is under the direction of the Iowa BIG North students themselves.
Two of those students, Alyshea Rahlf and Olivia Burke, talked about the project.
“We are going to create a test room here,” Rahlf said, indicating plans to create a “hack,” — that is, a test room in the downtown location — to use as an example for what the rooms in the bus barn might look like. Rahlf said that the plan is to have the test room laid out before winter break, then completed shortly after break.

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Rahlf is part of the group building the floor plans, while Burke is part of the group deciding what furniture and equipment would be best in the new location. The group has four students working on design, two students working on budget matters, and a total of 11-13 students and three adults working on the project.
 
For more of this article, see Friday's Tribune.