b'New Student Union serves multiple purposes at Clayton-BradleyBy Sherri Gardner Howell physical science, live science, twoprojects of particular note are the 8th grade classrooms and upperAugmented Realty Sandbox and The new year brought an excit- school offices. an environmental project involving ing new home for upper schoolEverything was designed with op- Pistol Creek.students at Clayton-Bradley Acad- timal utilization in mind. The labsThe sandbox idea came from emy, an independent PreK-12 STEMhave been built with state-of-the-artDENSO and is designed to provide school in Blount County: the Upperequipment, says Terry. This newa hands-on learning experience to School Student Union. space allowed us to focus on STEMstudy landforms, volcanoes and For the students, the most funand innovation for our students.earth erosion in the Earth Sciences room will probably be the studentWe want to do those programs therealm, says Toncray. While the center/cafeteria. Dont look forright way and a big part of that istool is a great learning component lunch ladies serving up mysteryhaving the right space. for younger grades, building and meat, however. This is a coffeeDetails have not been left todesigning it has been an immersive house type caf, like you might seechance. The school worked withlearning experience for the older at a college, explains Kendall Terry,Steelcase, a furniture design com- students.assistant director for CBA. Its notpany known for top-of-the-lineThe Pistol Creek project by a kitchen. Its for student use. Thereergonomic designs, on classroomCaroline Stedina and Campbell are ways to heat up food, a pannifurniture. It is designed on brain- Spence was developed from an idea press, coffee makers, ice machine,based research with different typessuggested by Julie Konkel, Blount refrigerators and freezers. Seatingof seating arrangements, televisionsCounty Watershed Coordinator. is non-traditional, giving spaces forthat pop-up, stools, couchesa lotThe project looks at water quality students to gather and collaborateof variety for the kids, says Terry. before and after the removal of the as well as eat. Labs include hoods modeled afterdam (later this year) through pebble Collaboration was at the fore- the ones at the Y-12 Oak Ridgeembeddedness and macroinverte-front of designing the Studentplant. The robotics lab is now thebrates. It will also be the students Union, which is intended to be thelargest classroom on campus.project for the Southern Appala-last educational building in Clayton- Maria Toncray, STEM and sciencechian Science and Engineering Fair Bradleys growth plan. In additionteacher for middle and high school,in March.to the student center/cafeteria, thehas students hard at work to make building has labs for STEM, robotics,the most of the new space. Two An aerial shot of the Upper School Student Union building fromRemy Fitzpatrick and Evan Bradley, with some oversight by teacherfall of 2020 Maria Toncray, work on the Augmented Realty Sandbox.38 Basically Blount 2021'