Tuesday, July 12, 2011, Calgary, Alberta – It started as a “what if” conversation between two SAIT Polytechnic Architectural Technologies students a little over a year ago. Today, it is their passion – to build a trade school for an impoverished community in Guatemala – and it’s gaining momentum at every turn.

In April 2010, already thinking almost a year ahead to their final semester major design project, Jude Polsky and Christine Zevnik decided they wanted to stretch themselves. They approached instructor Marc Bussiere with the idea of doing a humanitarian-based project in a Third World setting.

“We wanted to design a building that would have even the slightest chance of being built, and we were also interested in working for people who couldn’t afford to pay for design services,” says Polsky.

Bussiere and others in SAIT’s School of Construction liked what they heard. “Their proposal met the learning objectives of the course and much more,” Bussiere says. “A project like this gives students the ability to have a say in their own education. Students who have that opportunity will graduate with a real sense of purpose and of mission.”

With the go-ahead for their project, Zevnik and Polsky spent last summer contacting dozens of aid agencies, non-government organizations (NGO) and universities worldwide to find a suitable project.

Their search ultimately led them back home – to the Be One To Help Foundation of Alberta, a registered charity based in Okotoks and dedicated to improving lives in Central America.

It wasn’t the foundation’s first association with SAIT. A year earlier, foundation director Wayne Skogman had driven an ambulance, purchased from SAIT and packed with SAIT-donated medical supplies, to the town of Panajachel (referred to as “Pana” by the locals), Guatemala.

“When Jude, Christine and Marc wanted to look at ways to get involved to improve the standard of living in the Pana area, we all had the same goals,” says Skogman. He put them in touch with Mayan Families, an NGO that has worked for 20 years in the Panajachel region on a variety of humanitarian projects.

Mayan Families quickly identified a need that matched Polsky’s and Zevnik’s interests. The community has long wished to establish a trade school for young people to break the cycle of poverty.

Mayan Families hopes to purchase a property it now rents, and build the school through a combination of renovations and new construction. It plans to offer training in electrical, culinary and hospitality, welding, carpentry and traditional sewing and weaving.

The Pana Project, as Zevnik and Polsky dubbed it, was launched and Be One to Help came on board as the official sponsor. Months of planning followed in preparation for a 16-day research visit to Guatemala in February 2011.

To finance the trip, Zevnik and Polsky were awarded $8,000 from SAIT’s ’88 Olympic Legacy Fund, established to support innovative projects. Bussiere was funded by the School of Construction to accompany them.

In the first week there, the group met with many locals to gain an understanding of the community and its needs in the trade school context. They also toured two other vocational schools in the region, and met with a local architect involved in designing humanitarian-based projects.

Then they rolled up their sleeves for the physical work of measuring the property and documenting the site. Challenges were plenty, including the lack of legal site plans and building codes.

Since returning home, Zevnik and Polsky have completed a preliminary design and scale model of the facility.

Now, $500,000 is needed to turn the design into reality, and that ball has also started rolling.

The Calgary Chapter of Architecture for Humanity – a global network of building professionals that brings design, construction and development services to communities in need – is supporting the project through a fundraising awareness campaign. As well, the organization stands ready for any future architecture, engineering and interior design expertise needed.

The project also holds potential to involve the wider SAIT community.

“We’ve received great feedback from instructors in various programs who are interested in working on the Pana Project, and we’ve got a hundred ideas as to how students and faculty can become involved,” says Polsky.

The year ahead will be busy for these two determined women. Zevnik is starting a BA and will eventually earn a master’s degree in architecture at Dalhousie University. Polsky recently began teaching at SAIT, a position that draws on her years of experience in the home building industry and her master’s degree in English.

But they don’t see the Pana Project taking a back seat.

“What began as an off-the-cuff conversation in Jude’s kitchen has now transformed into a very real, very tangible goal,” says Zevnik.

Learn more about the Pana Project.

Jude Polsky, Christine Zevnik and Instructor Marc Bussiere journeyed to Guatemala to help establish a trade school for young people.

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