A team of Southwest Washington high school students has earned first-place overall at the international SchoolsNEXT Design Competition, hosted by the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), for their design of a future-focused agricultural high school in Ridgefield. Organized annually by A4LE, SchoolsNEXT challenges middle and high school students from around the world to design sustainable, resilient learning environments.

The team designed the Ridgefield Agricultural School (RAS), a project-based learning high school centered on agriculture and community resilience.

Located on a site in Ridgefield, the project draws inspiration from an adjacent creek and interprets the campus as a river ecosystem. Students studied the interconnected roles of water, soil and living organisms, translating these relationships into a campus where each building supports and informs student learning, the press release states.

The design includes biophilic strategies, trauma-informed and inclusive design principles, and sustainable systems tied to the local ecology, all within learning environments that function as a “third teacher,” where the built environment informs and enhances student learning.

The winning student team was mentored through Design CoMission, an outreach program led by LSW Architects, which provides hands-on design experience for local students interested in architecture and engineering, an LSW Architects press release states.

The student team includes seniors Bianca John of Union High School, Judah Lawson of Cornerstone Christian Academy, Paisley Pederson of Skyview High School/Cascadia Tech Academy and junior Karina Onofrey of Hockinson High School.

According to LSW Architects, the students completed full site selection, community research and design development before advancing through regional judging to the international stage.

At the final level of competition, the project was awarded first place overall in the high school category, recognizing excellence in design innovation, sustainability and educational impact.

As part of the award, the team has been invited to present its project at LearningSCAPES, A4LE’s national conference in Seattle, where they will share their work with educators, architects and industry leaders from across the country. The conference will be held Nov. 4-7.

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