Educational Visioning
Through an educational visioning process, GPD, in partnership with Fielding International, brought together students, educators, administrators and community members to help shape the design of Buckeye Local School District’s future high school. GPD hosted two visioning sessions to gather meaningful insight and to guide the project’s direction. Between the two days, there were three workshops, taking participants through the process of understanding where they are and where they want to go.
Workshop One
The session opened with a simple, thought-provoking prompt: “Where are we now?” To unpack this question, participants took part in an empathy mapping exercise—reflecting on what they say, do, think, and feel in their current building. This helped gather a better understanding of how the high school is experienced by those who use it every day.
The goal of empathy mapping is to create a clearer picture of stakeholder’s needs, setting the stage for the next phase of the workshop: examining the strengths and challenges of the existing facility. Conversation broadened with discussion ranging from curriculum and instruction to school atmosphere and culture.
Each group then shared their ideas with the room, building a collective understanding of what matters most to the school community. Among the issues identified were limited storage, poor heating and cooling, a lack of natural light, and safety concerns.
Workshop Two
The next prompt—“Where do we want to go?”—shifted the focus toward how teaching and learning could evolve in the new high school. To begin, the group established a list of guiding principles—ideas for improving everyday experience by aligning educational vision, academic programming, and the built environment. Here’s what the group came up with:
With these principles in place, participants moved into the next activity: evaluating and ranking future‑ready facilities presented by GPD. Among those participating was superintendent, Jeff Stanton, who emphasized the impact of designing for long-term versatility.
Workshop Three
The final prompt—“How will we get there?”— narrowed in on the execution process for the newly developed goals. Through a bubble-diagramming exercise, attendees explored layout ideas that reflected the priorities established throughout the visioning process.
“When we start to look at the themes that are coming from the bubble diagram, we start to understand how the students and staff want to move about their spaces,” said Leanne Andrysco, Project Architect for the new Buckeye School. “We’re able to take those and create something tangible and usable that is really developed from their concept.”
Participating students were excited to share their opinion and have an impact on the future of their school.
“I’m most excited about just being here and getting the chance to have a say in the new school, because my siblings will be in this new school,” said Kyla, a freshman in the district.
By listening first, the district, community and GPD established a shared foundation for a future high school shaped by the students, staff and community it will serve. To learn more about how GPD brings stakeholders together through Educational Visioning, reach out to Bob Slaga, Business Development – Education.