Winter 2015 Black and Gold Magazine

BLACK

GOLD

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF ST. JOHN VIANNEY HIGH SCHOOL | WINTER 2015

FOCUS ON STEM: Architecture & Engineering Drawing Courses

FAITH & FINANCE PAGE 9

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NEW SCIENCE LAB RENDERING PAGES 10-11

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WAR HERO PAGES 16-17

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ver the school’s history, St. John Vianney High School has been inspiring young men to pursue college study and careers in architecture and engineering - long before STEM became an educational buzzword.

6 | Visit us online! www.vianney.com

Vianney recently announced plans to use a significant portion of a $1 Million charitable gift to expand its academic programs in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In this edition of the Black & Gold, we take a closer look at the architecture and engineering curriculum at Vianney.

t’s the middle of a brisk January day and the students in Sean Scanlon’s Architecture class need little motivation to get started on their latest architectural drafts.

Rulers are unsheathed, pencils scrape across open white paper and the click clack of a computer keyboard replace Scanlon’s directions.

It remains to be seen whether one of the 10 students in this particular room will go on to pursue a career in architecture and engineering.

Given the rich history of these programs at Vianney, one cannot rule out the chance.

Jim Farrell, retired Vianney teacher

Scanlon teaches architectural drawing, engineering drawing and business at Vianney. He was mentored for this role by longtime Vianney teacher Jim Farrell, who taught these classes before Scanlon.

“Mr. Farrell was a great mentor and his advice helped provide continuity in these classes,” Scanlon said.

“The drafting classes help inspire students to pursue academic degrees in the future careers of architecture, engineering, and graphic design,” said Scanlon, in his 13th year of teaching at Vianney. “These courses are designed to give students hands-on experience using the same tools that industry professionals use.”

Vianney is proud to list successful architects, civic planners, engineers, builders, IT

professionals, researchers, doctors, biochemists, physicists and more as part of our alumni base.

“I

think anyone can do well in the class but the type of person that likes it best is someone who likes to problem solve and can work work well independently. In terms of artistic ability, using computer software opens it up to anyone.”

Mr. Sean Scanlon, teacher

Scanlon estimates that about two from an average architecture class of about 15 students will go on to pursue architecture in college.

In engineering, “maybe 75 percent go into engineering, mostly at Rolla (Missouri School of Science and Technology).”

Two Vianney alumni-architects are Larry Valenza ‘83 and Zach Wester ‘05, both who work for M&H Architects of Maryland Heights, MO. Valenza, whose son TJ graduated last year, has served on Vianney’s Facilities Committee for more than 20 years. Wester, new to the world of professional architecture, has a great loyalty to Vianney because of the tremendous influence it had on him. Wester credits Ms. Colleen Judge with inspiring his love for art - a key component of architectural design.

He said the art classes provided for him a muchneeded respite from the daily grind of taking classes. He used his interest in art to go on to Kansas State University to study architecture.

In September, Vianney announced plans to use a $1 Million gift made by Pat and Peggy Sly ‘68 to fund the renovation of the science labs and more.

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One of the highlights of the year for Vianney’s architecture students and the professionals at M&H is the annual review of student-designs.

Scanlon’s class is given plans for a project that a professional architect at M&H is working on. The students submit plans, make a presentation, and are judged against a set of criteria.

“The alumni from Vianney are amazing. In the past we have had other grads like Paul Wuennenberg, Mathew Mayer, Geoffrey Van de Riet and Tom Young who were such a tremendous help to the class. Recently Larry (Valenza) has been getting the younger architects at M+H more involved and has started a mentoring program for our students. We are really moving to a higher level,” Scanlon said.

Valenza, for one, is impressed with the level of quality he sees each year as a judge in the contest.

Zach Wester ‘05 (left) and Larry Valenza ‘83.

These student-designs, Valenza said. “are not what you’d expect from a high school student, but a professional working in the field.”

Wester joined the judging for the first time last year, and concurs. He said digital tools available to architecture students has opened the industry up even more to a wider group of students who, like him, grew up with technology.

While being exposed to a variety of career paths students in the architectural drawing and engineering classes students learn important skills such as digital

literacy, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and effective communication.

Some quick facts about Vianney’s Architecture and Engineering Drawing classes In Engineering Drawing, basic skills are taught to help create an awareness of the drafting field. Engineering Drawing is the principal means of expressing ideas in a technical world. A variety of drawing experiences are offered from freehand sketching to the use of Auto CAD and Sketch Up programs. Students learn: •

Traditional Drafting Techniques •

Basics of Auto CAD •

Dimensioning in Auto CAD •

Ortho Graphic Projections •

Pictorial Isometric Drawings •

Pictorial Oblique Drawings •

Perspective Drawings •

Sectional Views •

Auxiliary Views •

Threads •

Nuts and Bolts •

Basics of Sketch Up •

Bridge Design/Competition •

Working Drawings

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In Architectural Drawing students learn that it is the architectural drafter’s responsibility to convert sketches and ideas into formal drawings.

The course shows students how to prepare proper formal drawings by providing them with the basic guidelines for architectural drafting and minimum design and code requirements. Students prepare the following types of architectural drawings: •

Site plans •

Survey grids •

Floor plans •

Electrical plans •

Plumbing plans •

Roofing plans •

Sectional Views •

Elevations

The course concludes with a capstone project lead by professional architects from the firm M+H Architects. Students design a building and draw a complete set of plans following a program based on a real construction contract.

VIANNEY

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SCIENCE LABS Coming August 2015!

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10 | Visit us online! www.vianney.com

FOUR TEACHING LABS - EACH 1,680 SQ FT 8 STUDENT WORK STATIONS PER ROOM FLEXIBLE DESIGN ALLOWS FOR EASY RECONFIGURATION OF THE LAB SPACE AND MULTIPLE USES FOR SPECIFIC CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES UPDATED SAFETY FEATURES

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GAS, WATER, ELECTRIC ACCESS AT EACH STUDENT WORK STATION A TECHNOLOGY-RICH ENVIRONMENT LABS DESIGNED BY KWK ARCHITECTS

GOALS: 1. Increase interest in the STEM fields 2. Enhance student learning in the STEM areas

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DONOR PROFILE

Tim and Sharon Kurt Current parents

Vianney took our boy, and ...

Returned to Us a Man When the Kurt family began the process of vetting public and private high schools for their older son, Jacob, Vianney did not register on their radar. But an often-heard comment by President Mike Loyet at an Archdiocesan High School Night changed everything.

Not being from St. Louis and first encountering the “whole high school thing” can be a bit unnerving and confusing to anyone, including Tim and Sharon Kurt, parents of Jacob Kurt ‘12 and current senior, Andrew Kurt.

The Kurts’ interest in Vianney started in a roundabout way. In eighth grade, Jacob had decided on a different school to attend, and Vianney wasn’t in the picture.

However, Tim Kurt suggested Jacob at least go check out a few other schools on their Open House tours.

“First impressions are very important and as soon as we stepped into (the other school), he knew right away he didn’t want to go there. So we went to Vianney, and from the first moment, we all felt it. As we walked up, there were a group of alumni greeting people. One put his hand out and as I went to shake it, he went right past me to shake my son’s hand and welcome the boys to Vianney. That impressed us.”

Tim and Sharon Kurt are among Vianney’s very loyal and supportive group of parent donors. They believe in Vianney and have seen it pay dividends in life for their sons, Jacob and Andrew.

students while they are here.

“I feel our sons are a lot closer to their faith and religion,” she said. “While in high school, Jacob continued to be a server at the parish Masses. Both boys are Eucharistic Ministers. Vianney did an excellent job of feeding their spirituality. Vianney told my sons that it was OK to live their faith. The faculty and staff at Vianney really walked the walk and talked the talk.”

Both Tim and Sharon credit a combination of teachers and coaches who have had an impact on Jacob and

“We have to pick and choose who we give to. We believe it is important to give back to God. We support the school because God has given us so much through Vianney.”

- Tim Kurt

“If the boys would have gone anywhere else, they would not be the young men they are today,” Sharon said.

Andrew. “The teachers and coaches at Vianney gave my sons a purpose,” Sharon said.

The Kurts, from Queen of All Saints parish, were transplants to St. Louis from San Antonio. So to come to St. Louis, where the question of where did you go to high school is as important as the toasted ravioli it is served with, was an eye-opening experience.

Vianney has been all that was advertised, both parents agree. They routinely hosted youth group meetings and other gatherings in their home for their sons’ Vianney friends and friends from other schools. The manners, courtesy and respctfulness of the Vianney students comes through in each visit.

Sharon Kurt was impressed with how Vianney lived up to its motto of “Bring us your boy and we will return you a man.” This line is often cited by Loyet and others at Vianney to describe the growth and maturation of our

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“When it comes to formation, Vianney cemented what we started at home,” Tim said.

I

t was moments after Adam Hamilton arrived for the first session of the Google Teachers Academy that he knew he was in for an experience unlike any other.

“The first thing they told us was to put away our laptops,” Hamilton recalled. “Remind you, this is Google.”

While that first impression was a lasting one, what Google taught the group of teachers went well beyond GMail, Lucid Charts or any of the myriad of Google products.

“I am not a big fan of using the phrase ‘thinking out of the box,’ but what they emphasized to us is to always look for creative solutions - and to look for solutions no one has ever tried before.

They encouraged us to change the way we think about our classrooms.”

Fifty participants got hands-on experience with Google’s products and technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, and receive resources to share with colleagues. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other educators in their local regions and beyond.

“The opportunity to build a professional network was incredible,” Hamilton said. “To be part of a world-wide community of Google Certified Teachers that communicate and share ideas is the best part of attending the Google Teachers Academy.”

The Google Teacher Academy is sponsored by Google, in collaboration with Computer-Using Educators (CUE, Inc), an educational non-profit organization.

Hamilton is a biology teacher and a varsity football assistant coach.To be selected from a pool of hundreds of teachers nationwide was quite an honor, he said.

The Google Teacher Academy was a two-day intensive program that recognized educators who are doing innovative and exciting things in their classrooms with technology,

Follow Vianney on Twitter @vianneygriffins | 15