Garfield CLC Students Learn and Grow in Year-Round Structure | The Geodome is a Unique Teaching Magnet

The well-lit new geodesic dome or Geodome centered on the parking lot of Garfield CLC has already impacted students with unique opportunities.

The 42-foot hexagon shaped building is open for business and will serve as a multipurpose building for students to support student activities. 

APS staff, faculty and students played a major part in its existence.

The $100,000 mail ordered do-it-yourself Greenhouse kit was the brainstorm of Nathan Ruyan, who discovered there was available funding for a major project from the Expanded Opportunity Grant.

“We wanted to do something really cool and different,” Ruyan said. 

“The greenhouse is specifically designed to retain heat and produce growth year round, which is really important since the prime growing season is in the summer and Ohio students aren’t in school then. So, we wanted to make sure students could access the dome in the fall and winter.”

He added that the dome is very functional and can hold up to six feet of snow and is very solid, and capable of withstanding any amount of blowing wind. And it has a lifespan of 20 to 30 years.

APS paid two engineers from the Colorado-based company, Growing Spaces, to oversee the project.

“We didn’t want any room for errors,” Ruyan said. “These engineers were considered the senior experts because they were most familiar with the kit. It was very organized, and took military-like precision. It all worked out perfectly.”

APS staff, including the Grounds and Construction Department and faculty, put the dome kit together four days after groundbreaking began on Memorial Day. 

A team of seven Buchtel seniors in the Commercial Construction &  Masonry Career Academy pathway worked diligently on laying the flooring for the building. 

“It took eight weeks to lay down the foundation,” said Travonn Richardson. ”We grated the sand and laid the tile.”

The concrete tiles or pavers varied in sizes from 8 by 8 inches to 16 by 24 inches long. And the biggest tiles weighed as much as 75 pounds.

“The tiles were about two inches thick, but very heavy. I mean really heavy,” said Courion Andrews, who was among the students who worked on the project from June 9th to mid-August.

“It was really hot at times,” said Tashina Murphy-Burr. “The heat drained us a little bit and made us sluggish at times, but we always regrouped after lunch. It was a good project. We all work well together.” 

Matthew Simpson, who heads the career path program at Buchtel, said the students worked tirelessly in the heat.  “There was no electricity or solar heat, so it didn't push enough air,” he said. “If it was 90 degrees outside it was 100 degrees inside the dome, where they were working.”

The Buchtel students also helped with the cement work alongside the outside of the dome. The students were part of the JOG (Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates) program, a summer youth work experience program which pays students for summer work in career preparation. 

The students worked 20 hours a week at $15 an hour. Simpson said if the opportunity came around again he would definitely do it again.

Not wanting to miss another work opportunity Travonn quickly added, “Yes, and use the same people.”

Garfield students in the Construction & Building Technology Career Academy Pathway built the six raised garden beds for the plants that are lined along the walls inside the dome.

Matthew Zantow, the construction teacher at Garfield, said about 14 juniors and five sophomores worked on the project. He said he didn’t use his seniors because they are busy with several specific projects already in place.

The garden beds are coated on the end with linseed oil and lined with felt to help keep the dirt inside. They started building the garden beds in September. 

“The students are in the process of building a couple of mobile beds that can be taken in and out of the dome and a ramp so equipment can be easily moved in and out of the shed,” Zantow said.  “Kids really seem to enjoy when they have a project they can see around the school, something they see that they did.” 

Clayton Cundiff who will serve as a foreman seeing over the day-to-day operations said the Geodesic Dome will also serve as a teaching unit for culinary art students who will grow herbs and use them for preparing meals.

A job training class is also in place to teach workplace skills such as planning and organizing. It will also be used for creative learning on environmental concepts such as recycling, green energy and solar wind working with First Energy.

He said the Geodome will also have three plant sales, open to the public. The mums' sale in the fall, the poinsettias sale in the spring during Christmas and a Mother’s Day flower and garden plant starter sale.

Already, Cundiff is hoping to start summer camps. He’s looking into the possibility of community groups getting involved with the project. “Baby steps,” he said. “A little bit at a time.”

Cundiff will work closely with environmental protection career pathway instructor Carrie Soful, who calls the Garfield team, ‘The Ram Fam’ describing them as “a tight knit community.”

Soful said the school has a partnership with an Amish farm which helped out with the mum's sale and will possibly help out with the poinsettia sale, but perennials such as marigolds have already been potted and spider plants.

They are also working on a flower garden in a heated pond for a hydroponic system.

“We noticed the plants were turning yellow so we know they need more nitrogen, so we are going to add coy fish so the plants can use the nutrients from the fish waste,”’ Soful said. “Eventually we’ll use tilapia, which can be used for the culinary classes menu.”

Soluf, who has several home gardens herself and often brings in some of those plants to use for class projects, is also responsible for what will be planted in the Geodome. She believes in teaching how to garden so you will always have your own supply of food - healthy food.

“When you grow yourself you know what you get, you don’t always know what you get at grocery stores,” she said. 

Ruyan said the bottom line for this and any project is asking, “How many ways can we impact students' learning?”