Fifteen years after its last renovation, the 600 quad of CHS is facing major reconstruction this year. The goal is to provide sustainability and to create a more accessible and comfortable environment for its Special Education residents. The renovation plan was devised by CHS’s own AP Environmental Science classes and is similar to how the class the year before helped renovate a patch of area outside of the main office, except this time, the students created their own designs for how the revamped 600 quad could look.

The idea for the project was the product of Jenna Mittman, who teaches the AP Environmental Science class. The students in the class were split into groups in which they gave themselves ‘company’ names in order to represent and distinguish their group when presenting their ideas. Directed by Dr. Brett O’Connor, each group devised a plan based on the variables of not only sustainability, but also accessibility for Special Education students. For example, wheelchair-bound students need smooth surfaces to move around on, and other students are sensitive to sun rays and require shade to protect their skin. At the moment, shade is minimal, and they are forced to crowd under an area of umbrellas. The students’ challenge was to balance these variables to create a cohesive design. They attended lecture sessions after school in which they were given ideas and input from representatives from landscapers, the head of the Special Education department, Sustainable Claremont, a committee dedicated to raising environmental awareness in Claremont, and other assigned speakers. These people later judged each of the students’ designs from Jan. 11-15 that will become the new 600 quad.

“[The new design] is going to help [the special needs] students a lot. There’s a whole area in the quad that’s unusable for them. It’s all grass, so they can’t walk on it, and it’s in the sun,” Mittman said. “With this new design, we have replaced the grass with stones and are placing these shade sails so more of that area is shaded.”

The winning design was created by seniors Sarah Dirckx, Justin Fu, Lexie Varga, and Gavin Wride, otherwise known as Manzanita Designs. The design will be monitored and possibly tweaked in order to be executed and done correctly. Actual construction is hoped to begin this March, but at the moment, all concentration is being placed into fundraising. When construction begins, Dirckx, Fu, Varga, and Wride will be at the center of it to supervise the process and make sure everything is in place, but all of the AP Environmental classes are required to help as well. One of the new additions to the revamped quad will be a sensory garden for the benefit of the Special Education students. It will feature different sections of plants—one for taste, one for touch, and one for smell—as well as a variety of wind chimes to add sound.

“We knew we wanted to make a sensory garden so that the Special Education students could bring their education outside so that they could interact with the world in a more applicable way,” Varga said.

The entire project was a collaborative process with the members of Manzanita Designs receiving input from Mittman, O’Connor, Special Education students and staff, and many others. In the end, it is hoped that the final, newly-revamped 600 quad will provide not only water-wise sustainability, but an expanded and improved environment for its special-needs students.