Student success was reinforced at Nassau Community College by showing future civil engineering students how to plan, design, coordinate, and construct a project using checkerboard pavers for 40 feet in the grass area adjacent to a path along a parking lot to allow for structural support for vehicles while allowing for storm water drainage. This area was always muddy due to vehicle traffic running over it.
The applied learning/community service project began in October of 2018 with coordination and planning between Scott Brugge, the Capital Construction Manager at Nassau Community College and myself. Students would research and conduct field evaluations before installing the pavers to help control storm water runoff. The students would also determine the material list and cost. The project was approved by the Joe Muscarella, the Vice President of Design and Construction at the College. We were successful in receiving $2,000 funding from the Student Government Association in February 2019.
The materials were procured in April 2019 and the project was constructed in May 2019. The process was simplified due to the assistance of a construction manager on campus and contractors that were working on a parking lot reconstruction project on campus. Some materials were purchased and others were donated by the contactors. Due to time constraints of the students for the day of construction, the contractors completed some tasks ahead of time, such as digging the hole, placing the donated recycled concrete aggregate from the parking lot project, and rerouting of existing sprinkler lines in the project area by the campus landscapers.
The day of construction, we had 40 students on site and the project was completed in 2 hours. The students placed the sand used for leveling, placed the checkerboard pavers, placed the topsoil (donated by contractors) to fill in the holes in the pavers, and then placed the grass seed to complete the project.
The project was successful due to the coordination and support of the different entities on campus. The students in their reflection pieces stated that they were very happy to participate in this activity and learned valuable construction methods that they would otherwise been unable to learn without this hands on applied learning activity.
The students were able to learn about a sustainable methods used to solve a real problem and campus. Students were able to learn first-hand all of the requirements needed to ensure successful completion of the project.