About 63,000 adults in Washington D.C.—10% of the area’s adult population—lack high school diplomas. And these are the adults whom the Goodwill Excel Center, this market’s first adult charter high school, hopes to bring back to the educational fold.
Goodwill Industries of Greater Washington opened its first Excel Center in August inside a two-level, 21,500-sf basement space on G Street near the Old Executive Building. Goodwill received 2,055 applications for the 325 seats available. Three quarters of the students in its first class are women, and the ages of the students range from 26 to 39 years old. Seventy percent live in Wards 7 and 8, among D.C.’s poorest.
The D.C. school models itself after the first Excel Center in Indianapolis, which opened in 2010. There are now 11 Excel Centers in central Indiana, as well as in Memphis, Austin, Little Rock, Ark., and South Bend, Ind.
Catherine Meloy, CEO of Goodwill of Greater Washington, says her branch saw the need for an Excel Center after learning that many of the 2,000 applicants for jobs at D.C.’s Marriott Marquis hotel were turned away because their hadn’t graduated from high school. Several others who had a diploma weren’t hired because they couldn’t pass Marriott’s reading and math tests.
The Goodwill Excel Center operates five eight-week terms annually, and estimates it will take most students about two years to complete their education and earn a diploma. Meloy says that some of curricula are dual credited with a local college, and graduates will be credentialed in one of five industries: hospitality, security, healthcare, technology, or energy/utilities.
Beth Buffington, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, Studio Principal with Little Community Group—which provided interior architecture, sustainable design, and brand communication and design services—recalls that the space Goodwill found for its first Excel Center left a lot to be desired.
“We referred to it as the ‘Minotaur Space,’ ” she says. “The carpets and walls were brown, some of the columns were sloping. It was a tired location. We wanted it to be more open and transparent.”
Little upgraded the artificial lighting, and managed to bring in some natural light, too. It made the finishes lighter, and injected “a hip, business look,” says Buffington, which opened up the walls and ceilings of the basement. Classrooms and learning areas support collaboration. And the layout allows teachers and mentors to be visible and accessible to the students at all times.
The school offers childcare services. And Little worked in graphics and biophilia that sup port Goodwill’s mission to the community.
The Goodwill Excel Center is tuition free, and city’s Office for School Education provides per-pupil financing, a percentage of which helped pay for the renovation. Goodwill Industries kicked in some money, and the group worked with a D.C.-based REIT to get a tenant allowance. The school also has corporate sponsors that include Capitol One and SunTrust.
Meloy says the goal is to have five Excel Centers in the D.C. area, and expects the second school to open by 2018. “The first was meant to be replicable so there would be branding and a consistent color tone,” she says.
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2010
How to Win More University Projects
University architects representing four prominent institutions of higher learning tell how your firm can get the inside track on major projects.
| Dec 6, 2010
Honeywell survey
Rising energy costs and a tough economic climate have forced the nation’s school districts to defer facility maintenance and delay construction projects, but they have also encouraged districts to pursue green initiatives, according to Honeywell’s second annual “School Energy and Environment Survey.”
| Nov 29, 2010
New Design Concepts for Elementary and Secondary Schools
Hard hit by the economy, new construction in the K-12 sector has slowed considerably over the past year. Yet innovation has continued, along with renovations and expansions. Today, Building Teams are showing a keener focus on sustainable design, as well as ways to improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ), daylighting, and low-maintenance finishes such as flooring.
| Nov 23, 2010
Honeywell's School Energy and Environment Survey: 68% of districts delayed or eliminated improvements because of economy
Results of Honeywell's second annual “School Energy and Environment Survey” reveal that almost 90% of school leaders see a direct link between the quality and performance of school facilities, and student achievement. However, districts face several obstacles when it comes to keeping their buildings up to date and well maintained. For example, 68% of school districts have either delayed or eliminated building improvements in response to the economic downturn.
| Nov 9, 2010
Just how green is that college campus?
The College Sustainability Report Card 2011 evaluated colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada with the 300 largest endowments—plus 22 others that asked to be included in the GreenReportCard.org study—on nine categories, including climate change, energy use, green building, and investment priorities. More than half (56%) earned a B or better, but 6% got a D. Can you guess which is the greenest of these: UC San Diego, Dickinson College, University of Calgary, and Dartmouth? Hint: The Red Devil has turned green.
| Nov 3, 2010
First of three green labs opens at Iowa State University
Designed by ZGF Architects, in association with OPN Architects, the Biorenewable Research Laboratory on the Ames campus of Iowa State University is the first of three projects completed as part of the school’s Biorenewables Complex. The 71,800-sf LEED Gold project is one of three wings that will make up the 210,000-sf complex.
| Nov 3, 2010
Park’s green education center a lesson in sustainability
The new Cantigny Outdoor Education Center, located within the 500-acre Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Ill., earned LEED Silver. Designed by DLA Architects, the 3,100-sf multipurpose center will serve patrons of the park’s golf courses, museums, and display garden, one of the largest such gardens in the Midwest.
| Nov 3, 2010
Seattle University’s expanded library trying for LEED Gold
Pfeiffer Partners Architects, in collaboration with Mithun Architects, programmed, planned, and designed the $55 million renovation and expansion of Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons at Seattle University. The LEED-Gold-designed facility’s green features include daylighting, sustainable and recycled materials, and a rain garden.
| Nov 3, 2010
Recreation center targets student health, earns LEED Platinum
Not only is the student recreation center at the University of Arizona, Tucson, the hub of student life but its new 54,000-sf addition is also super-green, having recently attained LEED Platinum certification.
| Nov 3, 2010
Designs complete for new elementary school
SchenkelShultz has completed design of the new 101,270-sf elementary Highlands Elementary School, as well as designs for three existing buildings that will be renovated, in Kissimmee, Fla. The school will provide 48 classrooms for 920 students, a cafeteria, a media center, and a music/art suite with outdoor patio. Three facilities scheduled for renovations total 19,459 sf and include an eight-classroom building that will be used as an exceptional student education center, a older media center that will be used as a multipurpose building, and another building that will be reworked as a parent center, with two meeting rooms for community use. W.G. Mills/Ranger is serving as CM for the $15.1 million project.
