Marietta students building sustainable community center for Haiti

Marietta High School pre-engineering and pre-architecture teacher Leon Grant was recently honored for leading engineering and architecture students in a multiyear project to address the lack of sustainable energy, clean water, internet connectivity, and education opportunities in L'Arbre, Haiti. Under the guidance of industry professionals, Grant's students in the Haiti Container Building Project will build a prototype of the sustainable container building, a five-acre community center, using technologies such as solar energy, water harvesting, satellite internet communication, aquaponics, solar cooking, and plastic recycling. Once the prototype is complete, the sustainable container will be built in L'Abre. Grant is a finalist for the 2016 Association for Career and Technical Education Region II Carl Perkins Community Service Award, for making a significant impact on a community or humanitarian cause. He will be recognized at the annual ACTE awards banquet Nov. 30 in conjunction with ACTE's CareerTech VISION in Las Vegas. Marietta school superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said Grant "is exceptionally well-deserving of this recognition. … His vision-inspired work with dedicated forward-thinking educators across grade levels, businesses, higher education and organizations is creating current and future opportunities for our students. The Haiti Container Building Project is a lesson in engineering, architecture and compassion."