Student-driven “Passion Projects” have led the development of the Sustainability Exploratory content over the past four years, which matches student interests with curricular content from science, social studies, math, and language arts, as well as the core competencies.  

I support students to use their strengths to address their concerns. A top concern has emerged for Shoreline students: to improve the safety of their school. They have used their passion for art to advocate for a new school; one that is seismically safe, climate safe, and culturally safe.

Over 600 students have contributed their ideas to this vision during the past 3 years, felting a mural that will beautify their current school, while hopefully inspiring decision-makers to work with their community and the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations to plan for a new building.

The current building has been ranked H1; the highest risk of structural collapse in a seismic event. The school is insulated with asbestos, has no technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or improve energy/water efficiency and has not been designed in any way to acknowledge, respect or uplift the First Nations students and families it is supposed to serve. Shoreline students have many ideas to help correct this situation, but it will require the design and building of a new school, one which will feature:

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1. A seismically safe, more vertical school with a small ecological footprint
2. Solar panels, wind turbines, rainwater harvesting, a green roof-top patio
3. Big windows and a black roof that heats the school through passive solar energy
4. A covered charging station for e-bikes, e-cars & a biodiesel school bus
5. An expansion of our school forest, purple Camas Meadow and Indigenous berry bushes
6. Beautiful landscaping that replaces invasive species with edible, medicinal and useful native plants
7. A cafeteria large enough for all of our students to eat in it at the same time
8. Planting of trees that bear edible fruit and nuts and a garden that supplies food to the cafeteria

9. The colour of the school changed to a more inspiring blue, with more glass and wood and First Nations architectural designs
10. Welcoming local First Nations art (such as carved house poles at the front of the school)