Building future leaders .RRSZEXMSR -SYWI EX '- MW HIWMKRIH XS TVITEVI WXYHIRXW JSV XLI JYXYVI
n 2014, BHS embarked on a pioneering journey in launching its “Leading the Way” capital campaign, which raised $11.5 million for the construction of an Innovation Centre to house a STEAM-based (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) curriculum. A further $500,000 is being raised for additional furnishing, fittings, and equipment. The new facility, which is on target to open for the upcoming school year, is a two-storey 14,000-square-foot structure with an array of modern learning spaces and technology. The new building also connects to the school’s adjacent Butterfield Building, which has been extensively renovated to house new music, art, drama, and math areas. “It has been a long but rewarding journey to get to this point,” says Linda Parker, head of school at BHS. “With
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the immense challenges over the last few months due to the pandemic, we definitely wondered if we would be able to complete the project for the start of the 2020/2021 academic year.” Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the building is the convergence of the disciplines needed to build it and the subjects that will be learned within it. “I think BHS should be commended for realising and fulfilling the goal of building an educational facility that was specifically designed to facilitate a STEAM curriculum and approach to learning – one that I believe in,” says Gary Simmons, partner at Linberg & Simmons, the architectural firm for the project. As an all-girls school (through year 12), BHS has a particular commitment to ensuring girls are prepared to take leadership positions in Bermuda and
around the globe. The Innovation Centre is the first of its kind in Bermuda, which Mrs. Parker says is “an enormous leap forward for BHS.” “We have a responsibility to prepare our girls for the jobs of today as well as to anticipate future trends,” she says. “A strong STEAM education meets this challenge.” The design of the building not only supports the goals of this curriculum but also reflects the principles of the school itself. “An important part of the design process was to explore the ideas of expressing ‘Purity and Strength’ (the school motto) in the built structure,” says Germano Botelho, chairman of the Buildings and Ground Committee and co-chair of the STEAM taskforce at BHS and an architect by profession. “This has been achieved, for example, by not 29
