(Eric Miller (standing) discusses a computer problem with Hayden Post. Miller’s students are building an electric car for an upcoming competition. Charmain Z. Brackett/Augusta Good News)
A new building at Augusta Preparatory Day School will help transform the way students learn, according to officials.
On Jan. 16, students took their first classes in the W. Rodger Giles Institute for Inquiry, a 20,000 square foot, two-story, comprehensive science facility.
“This is a unique facility not just because of the design,” said Derrick Willard, head of school..
Centrally located on the 50-acre Columbia County campus, the building was constructed to address the needs of students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. It has space for traditional high school biology, chemistry and physics classrooms and laboratories on its upper level.
On its ground floor is a virtual reality lab, an engineering classroom and an elementary school classroom as well as an open lecture space and lounge areas with lots of natural lighting to provide places for students to read or study on their laptops.
The building has a collegiate feel and overlooks a new quad area. Willard said college prep and “prep for life” is a focus of the school.
Willard said the first floor is dedicated to the technological elements of science. Classes such as coding, robotics and engineering have been offered at the school for several years, but now they have their own rooms.
Robotics and engineering students take class in an area called the garage because it looks like an automotive center. The hallway leading into it is a tool crib, it has bay doors, and it features all the equipment students need.
“It’s wonderful,” said teacher Eric Miller. “It’s more of an industrial space.”
Miller started off at the school teaching ceramics, but he’s integrated the art component with the science education.
One of the projects they’ve undertaken has been building an electric car, which they will take to the Electrathon America competition at Florida State College at Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla. Jan. 27.
“They can come up with an idea, complete the renderings and print it,” said Miller whose classes had bounced around different parts of the school including the theater shop and a lean-to outside the ceramic room before finally landing its permanent space in the new building.
The 3D printing lab is located next to the garage. Before they moved into the new building, Miller said the printers were located on the opposite side of the school from them.
Students also like the garage.
“It’s a nice open space,” said junior Hayden Post.
Another unique classroom is the virtual reality room, where students can be immersed in a lesson using the YouTube Virtual Reality 360 Channel.
“They can tour inside a cell or sit on the sun and watch planets orbit,” said Willard. “They can visit the Roman Colosseum or tour the Battlefield at Gettysburg.”
While the idea for science building had been tossed around for several years, Willard said what helped get it off the ground was major funding through the estate of William Rodger Giles, an Augusta businessman and real estate developer, who died in October 2018.
Giles, who didn’t have any children of his own, wanted his wealth to benefit children of the CSRA, according to Willard, who added that Augusta Prep was only one of the places to receive funding. Money also went to other schools and to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.
With a lead donor in place, Augusta Prep officials put together a plan for the science institute. Teachers and students provided input, and architects created 10 renderings, which were shown to potential donors.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Jan. 24, 2023 and less than a year later, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Jan. 11, 2024.
Willard said it was about 36 months from the initial concept to students taking the first classes in the building.
And it’s not just Augusta Prep students who will benefit from the space, Willard said.
Augusta Prep operates one of the largest summer camp programs in the city with about 1,900 children participating in educational, arts and sports enrichment camps at the site during the summer months.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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