West Morris Architecture Students Awarded BASF STEM Grant

CHESTER, NJ - A pair of culinary arts classrooms got a jump start on their redesign thanks to a $5,000 grant earned by the West Morris Central High School Architecture, Design & Engineering students.

The students, under the direction of Frances Zegar, developed a $5,000 STEM grant proposal for BASF that initiated a redesign of the two culinary arts classrooms into a high-tech suite, complete with an attached greenhouse. The students interviewed the culinary arts teacher, Eliza Feltimo who provided them with several ideas for her “dream” classroom set-up. They encompassed Feltimo’s desire for more efficient workspaces, a live-feed for cooking demonstrations, and the ability to cultivate and grow their own herbs and vegetables into their proposal. While additional funding is necessary to complete the project, the students budgeted $5,000 for video-streaming equipment and up-to-date appliances as phase one of their design.

The motto for BASF, a company with locations in Florham Park and Budd Lake, is “We Create Chemistry”. According to their website, this company believes that environmental and social responsibility are necessary for creating a sustainable future. BASF provides funding to various NJ STEM programs that share those same values. The Architecture students put together a line item budget and explained the positive impact farm-to-table cooking would have on the West Morris community. BASF chose the proposal as one of twenty STEM enriched projects to receive $5000 to better their learning environments. West Morris was one of five schools in Morris County to receive the award.

The Architecture students will be moving forward with the redesign project in the spring. They will be designing layouts, choosing building materials, building 3-D models and organizing their designs into formal presentations to share with administration. When students complete authentic tasks, like the redesign project, they have the ability to see their designs come to life.

This project requires that students apply the design process, manufacturing processes, knowledge of material science, resource management, and classic design principles used by engineers, architects and designers in industry.

There are currently 244 students pursuing either a Diploma or Certificate through the school’s International Baccalaureate® program, engaging in one or more of thirty-one IB courses at West Morris Central High School. The Architecture, Design, & Engineering course is included in the IB Career Academy STEM Pathway. These students chose five classes in a course sequence that prepares them for further schooling or a career in the STEM field. IB’s mission “aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

In alignment with the IB mission statement, the students questioned a community member with the intention of solving a problem through strategic, measurable, achievable, relevant goals using a planned timeline.

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