BEEP
Built Environment Education Program
by Barbara Helton-Berg, AIA |
This past March-April, 14 architects descended upon Roosevelt Elementary School in Santa Ana Unified School District to work with seventeen teachers and almost 400 elementary school students. The mission: Help students gain an awareness of the built environment, architecture, and urban planning (hence the acronym: Built Environment Education Program). The result: cities, towns, and communities built out of recycled trash. Important urban buildings were constructed by the students and included courthouses, museums, police and fire stations, shops, offices, churches and temples, a car wash, and a zoo. Using paper, paint, tape, odd bits of recycled materials, and a tremendous amount of uninhibited creativity, these buildings became art works in themselves.
BEEP is a volunteer program co-sponsored by the AIA and the Orange County chapter of TAF (The Architectural Foundation). It encourages a sense of importance and confidence in students as they are given a chance to offer their own ideas in solving issues. This is extremely important in school districts such as Santa Ana, where students have few opportunities to interact with professionals.
We’ll be doing this again next spring, hopefully with more students and more schools. What we need is more architects. Those who participated enjoyed it immensely and have signed up again. If you are interested, please contact the AIAOC Chapter office for more information.
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