Building a friendly environment, one brick at a time

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006

A group of workers at Sandy Spring Friends School have manufactured compacted earth blocks for an environmentally green faculty residence on the school’s campus.

The ‘‘Earth House” is expected to be the first and only structure of its kind in the greater Washington area, using a revolutionary technology that utilizes inexpensive on-site materials and unskilled workers, school officials said.

‘‘This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us,” Head of School Ken Smith said. ‘‘We are putting into practice now the environmental principles and practices that we have been talking about and teaching our students for so many years.”

The landmark structure is made possible by an E.E. Ford Foundation grant of $50,000. The grant matches $50,000 raised by the school’s advancement office last year from parents, alumni and friends for the purpose of building new faculty housing.

The new residence will be a one-story structure suitable for either a family or up to three individual residents. It will be located on the north side of the campus, near the organic Community Garden, which is maintained by students and faculty. The yard area of the new residence borders the property of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and Friends House Retirement Community.

Plans call for the heating and waste disposal systems to be environmentally sensitive as well. Wood for interior framing comes from trees harvested on the school’s campus this year during construction of three new buildings and a perimeter road.

The house is designed by John Spears, a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and president of the Sustainable Design Group in Gaithersburg, a resource for sustainable housing using materials at hand and unskilled workers in the United States and other countries.

Spears’ daughter Mundy graduated from Sandy Spring Friends School in 2001; his son Chris graduated in 2004.

Spears recommended that the school build the earth blocks on campus and arranged for the school to work with Foxfire Associates, a Virginia company that has developed portable earth block construction technology and machinery.

For more information on the project, visit the school’s Web site at www.ssfs.org or contact Earth House volunteer coordinator Nancy Preuss at the school at 301-774-7455, Ext. 131, or by e-mail to nancy.preuss@ssfs.org.

Quaker youths to meetFeb. 2-4 in Sandy Spring

Sandy Spring Friends School will hold the annual Quaker Youth Leadership Conference Feb. 2–4 on its campus in Sandy Spring.

The event, for students in the ninth through 12th grades, is co-sponsored by Friends School of Baltimore, Sidwell Friends School of Washington, D.C., and Thornton Friends School of Silver Spring and Alexandria.

More than two dozen Quaker secondary schools throughout the country have been invited to participate.

This year’s conference theme is ‘‘Passion and Compassion.” Students and faculty will explore the ideas through a variety of workshops, discussions, and presentations.

‘‘Given the current state of our world and the increasingly complex life choices we all have to make, it is important that we all discover and actively pursue our individual passions while maintaining a commitment to helping others and improving our world,” said Karen Cumberbatch, Sandy Spring Assistant Upper School head, speaking on behalf of the organizers. ‘‘Our future leaders need to embrace these concepts if they are to become effective change agents.”

Magruder to participate in Festival Disney

School music ensembles from across the country will be packing their instruments, flags and dance shoes this spring to travel to the Walt Disney World Resort for the second annual Festival Disney competition.

The Disney-produced music festival will return March 3 through May 6. During the event, choral and jazz ensembles, marching and concert bands, orchestras, show choirs, and auxiliary units will participate in adjudicated performances, personalized feedback clinics and an awards ceremony.

Col. Zadok Magruder High School will take part in the event April 21 and 22.

All ensembles will receive an exclusive Festival Disney Award, and each member of the ensemble will receive a Festival Disney Medal to commemorate his or her participation. Competing groups will vie for Best in Class and Festival Disney Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards.

Each director will select the group’s classification and one of three categories when they register: Competition, where groups are rated and ranked for the top awards; Ratings Only, where the ensemble is awarded a rating but not a ranking; and Comments Only, where the group receives only written and verbal feedback.

Festival Disney is open to junior, middle and high school music groups.

Items appropriate for this column may be sent to Judith Hruz, Editor, The Rockville Gazette⁄The Aspen Hill Gazette, 1200 Quince Orchard Blvd., Gaithersburg, MD 20878; faxed to 301-670-7182; or e-mailed to jhruz@gazette.net. Include a telephone number for clarification purposes. Deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m. All items are subject to space availability and editing.