MEDIA ADVISORY -- San Diego High School Student Landscape Design Planted at Museum

MEDIA ADVISORY November 5, 2013

Contact: Katie Carl, (714) 267-9907

San Diego High School Student Landscape Design Planted at Museum


WHAT: GeoTech Academy students from the School of Science & Technology at
San Diego High School will install their sustainable landscape design in
front of the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park. The student
design was chosen at the completion of a project last school year
utilizing ³green² designs and is supported by the City of San Diego and
the Friends of Balboa Park.

WHEN: Thursdays, November 7 & 14 8:30-11:30 a.m. ­ students planting
sustainable landscape per winning design

WHERE: San Diego Automotive Museum
2080 Pan American Plaza, SD (Balboa Park) 92101.
Media parking will be available.
School phone: (619 ) 525-7459

School website: http://www.sandi.net/sdhsscitech

VISUALS: Students planting native plants per design including preparing
the area, planting, watering, etc.

GUEST SPEAKERS/INTERVIEWS: Students and teachers from the School of
Science & Technology at San Diego High School. (Spanish as well)

BACKGROUND: Ninth grade students enrolled in the GeoTech Academy last
school year at the School of Science and Technology at San Diego High
School completed a project in their Introduction to Green Technology
course focused on sustainable ³green² landscape. The project started in
the fall and finished with a presentation to the City of San Diego and
Friends of Balboa Park who chose the best design. This year, the students
are sophomores in the academy and will be creating the winning design in
front of the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park with the
assistance of the Balboa Park Horticulturist and Friends of Balboa Park.

The project involved multiple fieldtrips to the museum and a canyoneering
hike through the Florida Canyon in Balboa Park to learn about native
plants to the region. Guest lectures throughout the project included Paula
Brandes, SD Automotive Museum Director, Volunteers at Canyoneer Hike, and
information from Mario Llanos, a horticulturist. The students worked in
groups of four on the designs before participating in two rounds of
critiques (school site Administrator and Teacher and judges at the CCTE
Showcase in May) to determine the final four teams to present to the City
of San Diego, Friends of Balboa Park and the Central Mesa Ground
Maintenance Supervisor.

The Green Engineering Academy (GeoTech) is a small learning community at
the School of Science and Technology at the San Diego High Educational
Complex. Students graduate ready for college or other post-secondary
training with an understanding of the allied engineering fields. The
program uses engineering curriculum designed by Project Lead the Way.
Students start the academy by taking a Green Technology course which
prepares students for the new and emerging engineering field of green
technology. It promotes rigorous laboratory experiments which bridge
across multiple academic subjects with a strong theoretical focus in
science, physics, and environmental science.


The GeoTech Academy is a Green California Partnership Academy (CPA) funded
by a grant from the California Department of Education. The CPA model is a
four-year program (grades nine-twelve) structured as a
school-within-a-school. Academies incorporate integrated academic and
career technical education, business partnerships, mentoring, and
internships. The focus of Green Academies is that of clean technology and
energy business and to provide skilled workforces for the products and
services for energy or water conservation, or both, renewable energy,
pollution reduction, or other technologies that improve the environment in
furtherance of state environmental laws.

The Friends of Balboa Park was born out of the same commitment to
civic-minded philanthropy that motivated San Diego¹s leaders in the early
part of the last century. Founded in 1999 by a group of longtime park
volunteers, the organization is dedicated to Balboa Park as a whole,
initiating park-wide projects that transcend individual institutions and
address human-scale needs.

The Office of College, Career & Technical Education supports all
California Partnership Academies in the district including the GeoTech
Academy at the School of Science and Technology at San Diego High School.

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