The Sustainability Club for Youth is attempting to raise 25 per cent of the cost—$50,000—of the self-sustaining SEED classroom that's set to arrive in Jasper June 15.
The remaining $150,000 will be paid for by Seattle-based sustainable designer Stacy Smedley, who has designed the living classroom.
Adam Robb, sustainability teacher and creator of the club, said local contributions are important because they will give Jasperites a greater sense of ownership over the building.
And so far, fundraising is going well, he said.
Last week, the club received $5,000 from the Jasper Rotary Club. That’s on top of donations from Servus Credit Union and United Water, who each donated $5,000, and from the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee, who has donated $10,000. Mountain Galleries has also donated $1,000 as well as $4,000 worth of art for the space.
Robb said he thought the students would also have to fundraise for furniture, but Virco Furniture—a California-based classroom furniture manufacturer—has stepped up and donated everything the classroom will need.
The modular classroom is a prototype for a project called SEED: sustainable education every day. The ultimate goal of the program is to have a SEED classroom on every continent by 2014, and to use those structures to teach students about sustainability and sustainable design.
Jasper was chosen by Seattle-based sustainable designer Stacy Smedley to be the first community to receive one of her self-sustaining classrooms after she heard the Sustainability Club for Youth present in Portland, Ore. last year.
The core of the classroom structure will be shipped to Jasper in one piece after being on display in Seattle for a month.
In September 2012, Grande Yellowhead Public School Division assumed ownership of the classroom, meaning the division will be responsible for maintenance and custodial costs.
