North Bay and Callander students tackle climate change challenge

Students in North Bay and Callander are learning basic architecture skills and how climate change impacts buildings in a challenge where they build a structure to withstand a natural disaster.

Grades 5 and 6 students at St. Theresa Catholic Elementary School were building their structures Thursday morning.

From planning to cutting and gluing a structure, it was all hands on deck for these adolescent architects.

“We're doing our design and how does it look so far? It’s pretty good,” said Grade 5 student Taylor Marshall.

The students are mastering basic architecture in what's called the Climate Change Challenge.

In this challenge, the students are split into teams. They draw a 2-D design of a shelter that is supposed to protect three little plastic pigs from one of three natural disasters most common to our region: fire, wind or water.

“We think sandpaper is a good idea because as soon as we open the box, we thought it was going to be fire-proof and we searched it up,” Grade 5 student Sam Buchanan said about his team’s project.

Each team was then given a kit with different building materials and used them to bring their design to life in a 3-D model.

“We’re doing the wind project,” said Grade 6 student Myles Raftis and his partner, Grade 5 student Evan Hume.

“We’ve built sort of a silo and it's aerodynamic. The wind will kind of go over instead of crashing into it."

The competition is organized by the North Bay Society of Architects to inspire kids to think outside of the box, while also teaching them how climate change poses a risk to communities, surroundings and structures.

"It’s a challenge we need to face and co-exist with until we've calmed down the planet,” said society member volunteer and architect Jean Larocque.

Once their projects are completed, a photo of them will be taken and submitted for review and evaluation by members of the society.

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It’s the first time the group is partnering with schools.

“This experiment may generate some future architects or ecologists, biologists or engineers,” said Larocque.

It’s a hands-on approach that is the foundation of a well-designed shelter.

"We are all contributing in our build,” said Marshall.