In The News: Integrated design course debut a success

Written by: Newberg Graphic, Seth Gordon, Thursday, July 19, 2018

NHS students nearly complete tiny house capstone project, set foundation for the future

Although its capstone project, a tiny house that will eventually serve as a transitional living space for people leaving Love INC's shelter program, isn't quite complete, the Integrated Design Studio (IDS) was a big hit in its first year as a course at Newberg High School.

That's because just about every other aspect of lead teacher Matt Miller's brainchild, from pioneering a co-teaching model with math instructor Colin Schaeffer and drama director Mike McConaughey, to engaging students with relevant hands-on-learning experiences, represented important advancements for the high school.

And considering the 38 students enrolled had just over four months to design and construct the tiny home, the fact that they nearly completed it anyway is actually a point of pride for Miller.

"By the middle of June we had 90-plus percent of a tiny home completed," Miller said. "I feel really good about that. I think the students embraced the project, really took it on as their own. We didn't get it done, but that's a lot to ask. We shot big and I'm really proud of the work they did. I thought they did a great job."

The biggest reason the class was unable to start on the tiny home until February was that Miller had to figure out, on the fly, exactly what the capstone project would be. The idea behind the project was that the class would research a problem in the community and craft a solution to help address it, but being the first year, Miller had to gather support and find partners to make that feasible.

The problem of housing affordability and homelessness was identified early and building a tiny home was always a possibility, but Miller not only had to raise the funds to build one, but navigate zoning and other legal restrictions and find organizations that could realistically put it to good use in combating the problem.

Although it took most of the first semester to establish the basic parameters and that work will continue on moving forward, finding community partners to join the effort proved to be one of the most successful aspects of year one.

Not only did Northside Community Church donate $15,000 to fund construction, Love INC and North Valley Friends Church have come aboard to put the tiny home to use. North Valley will house the structure and Love INC will use it (and future student-built tiny homes) for short-term housing for people exiting its transitional shelter program.

"We haven't done anything to prove ourselves yet, we don't have a tiny home finished yet and it's not out being used, yet we have all of these people stepping up," Miller said. "That's amazing and all you have to do is step up and say, 'Hey! We want to do something," and people will back you. From what I've found, that's really unique to Newberg. It's really special."

Originally, Miller envisioned each new class would select their own problem to address and produce a solution, but that no longer makes sense, so year two's capstone project, and likely several more to come, will also be a tiny home so as to build up capacity for Love INC.

"We've got such great collaborators right now, we need to keep running with that, chase this down and see where it goes," Miller said. "The reality is that we do have serious issues around affordability and homelessness and we need to bear down on them a little bit and see what we can do."

Next year's class will also be unburdened with that problem and process, to a large degree, and therefore will be able to start on the capstone much sooner.

"We can start on that from day one, building the skills, building the research and talking about the topic," Miller said of the coming year's class. "We spent the first three months not knowing what we were doing. It will be a whole year around housing. We'll be able to go deeper. It will make it more significant for their education and we'll have a better chance of finishing the project."

That will also help Miller's co-teaching colleagues plan much further ahead, which McConaughey (English) and Schaeffer (math) were unable to do in year one. Schaeffer has left NHS to become head football coach at Milwaukie High School and will have to be replaced, but good progress was made on the cooperative teaching approach.

"The first year was a lot of experimentation, trying different things," Miller said. "We have a playbook that works and we know some things that won't work. That's stuff we can build on. Hopefully, we'll be around long enough to get all of this figured out."

As for the students, the class was wildly popular even though many did not know exactly what they were getting into at first, which also won't be an issue for the 2018-2019 class, which will have just one section and 20 to 25 students.

"Miller is a great guy," recent graduate Ryan Montague said. "He's taught me a lot. We think a bit differently, but he knows a lot about trades and that's awesome. My dad is in the trades, but for kids who don't know, that class is like a real-world job."

In addition to learning how to build and working with their hands, many students not only found the capstone project relevant, but also meaningful.

For recent grad Cameron Sutton, meeting with women in the Love INC shelter during the design process was an eye-opening experience.

"Talking to them, it was really hard hearing their stories and what they've been through and finding out what they have to go through on a daily basis," Sutton said. "That was motivation to get it done so we could help those people. It really changed my mindset on being homeless and the homeless population. It was a really great experience. Miller did a really good job of getting us to do what we needed to do, but also teaching us a lesson while we were doing it. He's a great teacher."

The biggest obstacle to completing the tiny home now is getting the plumbing installed, which Miller hopes to do, hopefully with the help of a willing volunteer, in early September. He's not sure yet who will do the remaining interior work to complete the project, but it could be next year's class or students in his new construction course.

"My goal is to have it finished by the end of September and, hopefully, have it out somewhere in town where people can check it out before we get it delivered and put into use," he said.