Recently, on February 24, 2021, WHSAD announced that we won the DOE Sustainability grant with Newtown Creek Alliance, a community-based organization. For those who are unfamiliar with Newtown Creek Alliance, this organization’s mission is to restore, reveal, and revitalize community health, water quality, habitat, access, and vibrant commerce along Newtown Creek. This grant will help WHSAD beautify the Van Arsdale campus building perimeter by adding a lot more greenery. Newtown Creek Alliance, or NCA, works to “Reveal” by conducting tours that educate the public about the history of the waterway at Newtown Creek. NCA “Restores” the Creek by supporting green infrastructure investments, bioremediation, and habitat restoration, just to name a … [Read more...]

Earlier today, some of WHSAD’s students were treated with a visually intriguing and communicative presentation, to say the least. Gregory Rogers, the head architectural visualization specialist of Reo Creative Consultancy, presented in Google Meet about The Future of Architectural Visualization and Unreal Engine. Ultimately, this presentation exposed us WHSAD students to various new 3D rendering and modeling programs. This topic is imperative for WHSAD students interested in pursuing careers in architecture and design as they will definitely need to be fluent in 3D modeling considering that they are bound to work with it in the not so distant future. By using some of his own creative work, Greg focused his presentation on not only the … [Read more...]

Ms. Heather Butts is a true hidden gem. For almost a decade, she's been working with WHSAD. Even though she's been with us for so long, many of us still don't know much about her. Impressively, Ms. Butts received her BA from Princeton University, her JD from St. John's University School of Law, her MPH from Harvard University, and her MA in teaching from Teachers College Columbia University. She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, a nonprofit organization formed for the charitable and educational purposes of assisting youth. Ms. Butts is a Regulatory Specialist at Columbia University Medical Center; adjunct professor at Columbia University School of Public Health; Board member of several nonprofits that focus on … [Read more...]

This is my second year working with Work Learn Grow, and this year’s experience is just as good as last year’s. Although it does not feel the same due to the pandemic, this program has allowed a sense of familiarity to come into my life. I am familiar with how the program works, and this helps bring me an ease in light of all the uncertainty the country is facing right now. Last year, I was used to attending my CUNY course every Thursday from 3-5:30 pm in Ms. Connors’ room. There I learned about college readiness as well as growing into the person I want to become. The assignments were fair as well as manageable. After passing the CUNY course with flying colors, I was given the privilege to intern at the NYC Department of Buildings. For … [Read more...]