Painting workdays at the Titan Gardens new classroom

This weekend we had two workdays where volunteers helped paint the new outdoor classroom at the Titan Gardens.  Huge thanks to all of the volunteers that showed up to help.  Old and young, little and big, everyone did their part.  We had current Titans and future Titans, Titan families and community volunteers.  From siding to trim to the underside of the roof, they got the job done.

. 

It takes all sizes of painters!

Roger Gregory reaches high to get the trim.  Roger even showed up for more work on Sunday!

Roger Gregory and future Titan Alexandra Martin make sure everything is covered

Austin Brown and Jack Martin put on a second coat on the back wall

Titans Sophie Robinson and Jack Martin on the job with Alex Martin

John Martin and Roger Gregory start painting the ceiling

Lisa Pizinger takes care of the trim

John Boyle and son Evan (not pictured) helped make sure our classroom is ready for the fall

 
Naomi Moore, Lisa Pizinger and Matt Robinson working on the back wall

Titans on the job included Aaron and Ryan Radloff, Sophie Robinson, Jack Martin, Alex and Harry Wilby, and Evan Boyle.   With our volunteers on Saturday and small but mighty "get it done" crew on Sunday, we were able to get all of the painting and sealing done on the classroom and have it ready for our students! 

The roof is on!

Meet Chris, Steve and Joe. They work for Wilson Roofing, who generously donated labor and materials to add a roof onto our Titan Gardens outdoor classroom. It is a beautiful metal roof that will be sturdy and give us a great catchment area to harvest rainwater off of our building. Thanks to Wilson Roofing and Chris, Steve and Joe for helping us create such a fantastic place for our students to learn about the environment.

Next up...painting and caulking this weekend. Want to help? Email Bonnie and let her know. C'mon, you know you've always wanted to operate a caulk gun!

New outdoor classroom at Titan Gardens!

The week for building our new outdoor classroom at the Titans Garden finally arrived last week, and we were happy to have some great volunteers to help us get this project going.  John Martin of Straight & Level Construction has donated his time serving as our general contractor and builder on this project and has helped us to gain volunteer time from other contractors and subcontractors.  Brandon Gibbs from Above the Plane is another area contractor who donated his time.  Finally, Mike Reichert from the Home Depot at Four Points and his wife Rina from the Pflugerville Home Depot donated their time as well. Huge thanks to all of them for working some long hours in VERY hot weather. 

 

Mike Reichert helping frame outdoor classroom

Outdoor classroom storage area framed

Windows in and structure wrapped

Installing front posts for covered class area

John Martin preparing decking on roof

Mike Reichert on the saw

Jack Martin, RPE 2nd grader, helps his dad install ceiling planks

John Martin, Brandon Gibbs, and Mike Reichert, supervised by 2nd grader Jack Martin

Finishing touches on structure

Next steps, roof installation, gutters and rain barrels.  Now, if only we could have rain!

Foundation for Outdoor Classroom Poured!

To get straight to the point, summer in Texas is not the ideal time to be outside pouring a concrete foundation.  Yes, it was hot.  But this was our time to get the foundation done and we were determined to move forward.  Thanks go out to JP Concrete for amazingly donating all of their labor to tie the steel rebar and get the concrete slab poured.  We happily gave them an audience of four kids and a few adults to cheer them on- concrete trucks are always amazing to watch no matter what age you are.

Stay tuned as we will be building the outdoor classroom structure soon.