Staff writer
High school seniors Jordan Bezdek and Micah Mashburn joined forces for one reason this quarter: to make plans to revamp the Courtyard at Hillsboro High School.
It all started with an idea in their project management class, and gradually grew over the course of the quarter.
“At first they brought me a pencil drawing on a piece of notebook paper,” said principal Max Heinrichs. “I told them it wasn’t going to cut it and that they needed to put some more time and energy in it.”
And that’s exactly what the two students did. With the help of area horticulturists and other area experts, they discovered just how much it would cost to lay rock down, put a drainage system in place, and beautify the area with inexpensive, low maintenance shrubbery and flowers.
“There’s a lot of grass there right now,” Bezdek said. “We want to replace that with rocks so that it doesn’t take so much to maintain.”
After doing all that research, the students used a computer assisted drafting software system to aid them in a possible blueprint design — an end result that impressed several school board members, when they presented their plans Monday night.
“That was really cool,” board member Mark Rooker said as the two students were finishing their presentation.
Bezdek and Mashburn agreed that it was a fun project, but said their purpose was simple: to turn the courtyard into a place where students wanted to go.
“I don’t think I’ve seen any students use it, except once or twice when people were blowing bubbles,” Masburn said. “It’s just not used, but this could change that.”
While both Bezdek and Mashburn are graduating this year, they have commissioned the next class to take the project to the next level — and actually make it happen.
No action steps were taken at the board meeting, but members agreed that the project was a good idea and worth considering in the future.