It’s way too early to speculate, but a dream conceived by some Great Bend High School drafting students may one day be reality.
Advanced architecture students of Matt Mazouch recently took a trip outside of the classroom to visit the architecture firm of Shaffer Johnson Cox and Fry in Wichita.
“I feel that getting the students out into the field that they are interested in is just as important or more important than what I can teach them in the classroom,” Mazouch said.
“Experience out in the field that they would like to pursue is invaluable,” he said. “I always tell the students to get a summer or part-time job in something that is closely related to what they are interested in doing.”
Three of the students who went on the field trip are creating a computer-generated 3-D model of a potential addition to the high school, he said.
As a result of the field trip and the connection made there, they have been in communication with the architects to help them estimate the cost of the addition, Mazouch explained.
“The architects even looked over their model,” he said, noting the students will present their computer generated model of the addition in front of the high school administration before the end of the semester.
Shaffer Johnson Cox and Fry is a firm that designs buildings all over the middle of the country. Much of their work is with local buildings around Wichita.
They work on projects ranging from $2-to-3 million to $300 million or more, Mazouch said. Some of their most recent projects are additions and new schools in USD 259, the new Wichita YMCAs, many churches and an addition to the Wichita airport.
“These kinds of experiences benefit the students in many ways,” Mazouch said.
“They can reafirm the students’ interest in a particular field and teach them more about it,” he said.
“Or sometimes, just as important, it can help them realize that this is not what they thought it would be and they should think about other options before spending thousands of dollars on school,” Mazouch said.