Protecting the Watershed

long with our faculty, the classroom is a teacher. Our students will learn how to preserve, maintain, and steward our environment through the lessons taught through this project.”

- Percy L. Abram, Head of School

PROTECTING THE WATERSHED

NEW UPPER SCHOOL BUILDING

by Molly Judge, Leadership Giving Manager

Opening January 2022

Construction preparation for The Bush School’s New Upper School Building began in November 2020, and the project has progressed at an impressive pace in spite of the challenges presented by the pandemic and a few days of snow this winter. Situated adjacent to the historic Gracemont, the new building will add 20,000 square feet of learning space to Bush’s campus. New educational spaces include ten state-of-the-art classrooms, a student life center, and a 400-person gathering space for the community. We are excited to share that this new building will be open for use in January 2022.

The New Upper School Building will also expand environmental sustainability on The Bush School’s campus. It will be certified as the first Salmon Safe school, the first Passive House school in the west, and one of the first net-zero energy schools in the nation. You can learn more about these certifications on the following pages that spotlight how students, teachers, construction project partners, and environmental experts engaged with an Upper School science class during the 2020-2021 school year.

Salmon artwork by Bush Class of 2033

Building the Future Together

Upper School students enrolled in Laura LeBlanc’s environmental science class during the 2020-2021 school year had an opportunity to learn directly from building and environmental experts about the innovative and sustainable features of The Bush School’s New Upper School Building. The design, construction, and use of the building is focused on the protection and preservation of water, energy, and the ecosystem surrounding Bush’s campus. watersheds, but unfortunately there is a lot of invisibility around the water systems. The exciting part about The Bush School’s new building site is that it is on the peak of a ridge that looks over different parts of this watershed. There is visibility of the lake, and we thought it is a really meaningful place to make this lesson and the story visible. As the project came together, the idea of water became a really big part of our focus.”

Earlier this spring Bush Upper School Environmental Science students met with Brendan Connolly, of Mithun architectural firm, to learn more about how the design and materials used in the construction of the building will enable it to meet a number of environmental sustainability certifications and mitigate negative ecosystem impacts. Brendan has been the architect on this project from the start, and he has a deep appreciation for the ways in which The Bush School has intersected with this opportunity to elevate sustainability in a forward-focused, energy-efficient building. Students leaned into the conversation with Brendan, bringing a host of questions to spark the conversation, including: What are some common roadblocks and difficulties that you run into when trying to make buildings Salmon Safe certified? Is it possible for existing buildings to become Salmon Safe? How does geography and climate impact the requirements for energy efficient certifications? How is the New Upper School Building minimizing water use in general? What standards does Bush have to keep up in order to keep their Salmon Safe certification? Brendan was energized by the students’ enthusiasm and shared, “Seattle is this amazing city that is really tied to its

Brendan went on to explain, “As we continued to research the campus, the history, the relationship to water, the views of water, the watershed, “ The Salmon Safe accreditation and the steep slopes, I think the idea of it is a metric that really allows being the first school to really tackle Salmon buildings and landscapes and Safe and all the sustainability benefits operations of the building to synced up to the Bush mission.” The school set do less harm and to enhance out on a path to think about its classrooms ha itat uality for salmon and and buildings not just for their immediate salmon watersheds.” impact of teaching and learning, but also - Brendan Connolly for the impact on the Partner, Mithun architectural firm larger environment of the campus, city, and region well into the future. Steven Mashuda, a lawyer with EarthJustice, also joined a class to help students understand the connection between endangered salmon and endangered orca whales in the Puget Sound. The class was then tasked with determining how to share information about the building’s Salmon Safe, Passive House and net-zero energy certifications more broadly with the Bush community and residents in the surrounding neighborhood. These certifications are not only about how to construct the New Upper School Building, but also hold the school accountable for how it maintains and cares for them for generations to come. Cohorts of students in the class focused on each of the certifications, and developed interpretative signage for campus and digital content that will appear on the project’s website—

connectingtoplace.org.

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7 This experiential learning opportunity that connected students with experts and real-time transformation on PLANT OPHIOPOGON JAPONICUS BETWEEN EXISTING FLAGSTONES campus actively supports The Bush

NIC PER GRACEMONT SCOPE SHOWN FOR REFERENCE ONLY 0 SF School’s educational values and PLANTING AREA SHOWN IN HALFTONE IS Commitment to Sustainability that was

GRACEMONT SCOPE SHOWN FOR REFERENCE ONLY adopted in October 2018. The work of these students will ensure that the entire community can learn how the new addition to campus can help SHRUBS SHOWN IN HALFTONE ARE people and the natural world thrive.

GRACEMONT SCOPE SHOWN FOR

REFERENCE ONLY

THE BUSH SCHOOL’S COMMITMENT TO

SUSTAINABILITY (October 2018)

PLANT IRIS IN CLUMPS OF OR 5 As a school community, we believe we have a moral and ethical obligation for the preservation and care of the natural, VEGETATED ROOF PLANnon-human world. We will use a lens of environmental sustainability as new NOT USED buildings are designed and constructed, new programs are conceived, and as the 6 school culture evolves.

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We recognize that this is a process and that resources may limit our ability to MULCH AREA fully implement every idea and best practice in this moment, but we will continue to strive for making our campus and planet a safer place for our students and the natural world.

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One of our four educational foundations is “ethical judgement and action.” As a guide for the future, our work is based in three primary areas: People, Program and Place as defined in our strategic plan. The Bush School has fostered a 12 strong sense of Place through its deep roots in the Seattle community, its commitment to place-based learning, and its outdoor education program. As we continue to grow our program, our campus, and our school, it is the right time to exercise “ethical judgement and action” regarding our relationship to the environment.