Josh is finishing his final year at New York University, where he received a grant from the Gallatin Student Resource Fund to host a symposium around K-12 education reform. In advance of this Spring’s symposium, Josh is using Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington as a sample test case, when considering the redesign of the architectural model and curriculum of a 21st Century School. He returned to the Brook Farm Campus, to get further inspiration from the School where he spent Grades 1 through 9. He saw the Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons and said that the new facility confirmed his findings about the importance of communal spaces, open floor plans, and the use of natural wood and lighting.
What can you share about your symposium?
Our hope is that the symposium will serve as an opportunity for the Gallatin and broader NYU community to have a public conversation on the importance of education reform, specifically in the face of looming global threats facing the next generation, like climate change, accelerating income inequality, and exponentially advancing technology. We’ve organized two spring classes that are working towards producing the program, curriculum, and architectural designs for a future K-12 school. Gallatin professor Mitchell Joachim, former architect under Frank Gehry, will lead the architectural design of the school, and we are working to secure James W. Fraser and Diane Ravitch as panelists to speak. The 3D model and written program descriptions of the school will be exhibited.
