Green-thumbed students give back through toil and soil

Taking inspiration from the popular show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Kwantlen Horticulture students remodeled the yards of a deserving Coquitlam family, the Yules. The students were just one part of the renovations, with a group called the Home Team completely remodeling the inside of the house.

This is the third year that the department has partnered with the Home Team. See the full story in Abby Wiseman’s article, which follows the photos.

By Abby Wiseman

Kwantlen horticulture students got the opportunity to get out of the classroom and put their lessons to practical use last weekend.

While Cornerstone Community Church members were renovating the home of the Yule family in Coquitlam, Kwantlen’s students designed and landscaped the backyard.

This is the third year Kwantlen students have worked with the church and the second time student Alyssa Chuback has been part of the church’s Home Team project.

“Giving back to someone who has given a lot is very rewarding, and it makes you feel good about yourself,” Chuback said.

Stan Kazymerchyk, turfgrass management instructor, feels the project is good for the students, who not only get to put their knowledge to practical use, but also get a rewarding experience, saying the students learn how “to help people, how to be people.”

The 13 students worked for two days to create a yard for the Yule family. Sunday the renovated house and yard was revealed to the family.

Homeowner Brian Yule was overwhelmed by the changes, saying that he was lost for words.

“Thank you all so much. Beautiful people, beautiful people,” Yule said.

Kazymerchyk hopes to continue getting his students involved in The Home Project for years to come.

“It would be tough to turn down,” Kazymerchyk said.

Each year, the church chooses a family in need and carries out a complete home renovation.

$4.9 million in renovations for Surrey campus

Kwantlen’s Surrey campus is getting a facelift, funded by $4.9 million from the federal and provincial Knowledge Infrastructure program.

The money will first be put towards the replacement of cladding and windows of building C, said James Meschino, associate director of planning and construction. After that is finished, in January, the rest of the money will go to upgrading other buildings on Surrey campus. According to Meschino, the building has been well maintained over the past 20 years, but wear is starting to show and the cost of maintenance is more then the cost of replacement.

Windows will be replaced with more energy-efficient ones and stucco will be replaced with metal cladding made of zinc, which has a 40-100 year lifespan and will not require painting or maintenance.

Maintenance costs and energy efficiency are not the only goals Kwantlen has for the building. According to an overview of Kwantlen’s Building Expansion projects, Kwantlen wants to reduce its natural gas consumption by 25 per cent and its electricity consumption by 45 per cent for 2010. All of this is in the hopes of getting LEED certified and LEED gold ratings.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a program created by the U.S. Green Building Council that certifies buildings that are built in an efficient and sustainable manner. The awards range from LEED certified to LEED silver, gold and platinum.

Kwantlen’s Cloverdale campus achieved LEED gold status, while the new library at Surrey campus is shooting for the platinum award, said Meschino. He is aiming for LEED gold status for building C.

Building C will be the first to receive a facelift, mainly because it is an administration building and students will not be disturbed. Meschino is treating this project as a test for when construction moves to other buildings. As for what this means for students at Surrey campus, Meschino said they are hoping to create as little disruption as possible and the worst of it will be looking at scaffolding from now until January.

“There’s going to be noise just like any other construction project, but we’re going to work with both the users of the building and the contractors to make sure those noisy activities can happen either off hours or at times that will be less of an issue for users.”