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Whiz Kids: Parkland Architectural Design Teams

They took first- and second-place honors in the Pennsylvania School Board Association Architectural Design Competition

  • Name: PHS Architectural Design Competition Teams
  • School: Parkland High School, 11th and 12th grades  
  • Greatest Accomplishments: Under the leadership of teacher/advisor Jim Kester, taking first- and second-place honors in the Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) Architectural Design Competition., The two four-member teams designed elementary schools in the 4th Annual Competition created and sponsored by the Mechanicsburg, Pa. architectural firm of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates. The seven-month competition, which coincides with the annual PSBA conference, places a strong emphasis on new buildings which meet Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED) Green standards and certification.

Beginning in September, the teams formulated, designed and presented their plans and blueprints for an elementary school with a special consideration: the school had to incorporate a 500-seat theater that could be used for community events, as requested by a donor who contributed $10 million to the project.  Also contributing time as advisors were senior architect Paul Swartz, a principal at USA Architects, who met with the teams several times and Darpan Patel, a former PHS student, PSBA competitor and third-year student at Philadelphia University, who spent several weekends working with the teams.

This year’s first-place team was comprised of the following:

  • Nicholas Dyszel, the longest-serving member of the team, who counts architecture as a “hobby.” Nick attained a perfect score in the math SATS and will attend the Schreyer Honors School at Penn State University in fall to major in math.
  • Logan Paiste, a rising senior at PHS, who aspires to become an architect after attending as yet an undecided college.
  • Colleen Korp, who will begin her architectural career as a freshman at Philadelphia University this fall. Described as the “anchor” of the team, Colleen was the organizer who kept everything straight on many issues, by “dotting the ‘I’s and crossing the “T’s”.
  • Zahra Khaku, a “late-comer” who started after everybody else but rose to the occasion and helped bring home the first-place honors. She will attend Temple University in fall to major in architecture.

The first-place team each received a $250 scholarship, for a total of $1,000.

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Making up the second-place team were:

  • Alex Shuey, a rising senior at PHS.
  • Dakota Kelly, who will attend Philadelphia University this August to major in architecture,.
  • Anikken Busack, who will be a freshman this year at Syracuse University, majoring in architecture.
  • Sydney Hibshman, who will enter Temple University this year to major in architecture.

The second-place team shared a $750 scholarship ($187.50 each).

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  • Key to Awesomeness: According to Kester, their dedication to getting the job done.  Kester, who teaches architectural design and “Project Lead the Way” a national pre-engineering program at PHS, lauded the eight participants for spending hour after hour, nights and weekends working to complete their projects.  He noted that part of the scoring came from LEED credits, and that the teams took advantage of the scoring opportunities by incorporating the use of natural light by using windows effectively or “light shelves,” reflective panels on the outside of the building that reflected light onto the inside ceiling, creating more light without the use of electricity, and reducing the amount of macadam or concrete in the project, allowing more rainwater to soak into the ground. “These were ‘biggies’ as far as LEED credits go,” he said, adding that they carried a lot of influence in selecting the winners of the competition.
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