News & Events

May 26, 2004

CONTACT:

Suzanne Ames, Director of Communications and Marketing
425.352.8256
sames@cascadia.edu

CASCADIA STUDENTS DEDICATE ARTISTIC SIGNS FOR THE CAMPUS WETLANDS

BOTHELL — Students at Cascadia Community College will dedicate their work that merges art, nature and education on Friday June 11 at 2 p.m. at the boardwalk near the campus wetlands.

These students have immersed themselves for the past 10 weeks in designing interpretive signs for the campus wetlands that will educate passers-by on the paved trail that borders the 58 acres of wetlands on the Cascadia Community College/University of Washington, Bothell campus. The signs will become a permanent fixture along the trail.

“It’s really exciting to be able to create something that will be on this campus for future students and the community,” Cascadia student Alex Thomas of Kirkland said. “It’s been a challenging project but very rewarding to work toward this goal.”

The students participated in a learning community, which are two classes that are combined to merge subjects and themes. Learning communities provide students with an understanding of the relationship between their classes. In this case, students learned two-dimensional design through their art class and a survey of biological diversity through their biology class. By combining the subjects, students were able to see the relationship between the design aspects of artwork and the design (form and function) of living organisms. Students learned about the wetlands environment and now will visually display their knowledge through art on the interpretive signs.

“The students have done a fantastic job conveying their biological knowledge through artwork and interesting text,” said biology instructor Grace Simpkins. “I’m anxious for the public to be able to enjoy the interpretive signs as much as I have.”

“It has been very rewarding to watch these students progress through the learning process,” said art instructor Chris Gildow. “We set significant goals for the students coming into this class and they have exceeded all of our expectations. Grace and I worked with the students to understand the connection between biology and art, and they made the leap to create this artwork.”

The students’ signs were funded by the college’s innovation fund, which allows college employees to apply for money to conduct a special project.

The public is invited to attend the dedication of these signs. The students and faculty members will be on hand to explain their work, the design process and the ecology of the wetland.

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