Winners of Minecraft Future Builders program honoured at city hall

He said the purpose of the program was to provide students the opportunity to think about thoughtful community benefit and city planning design.

“Really what the aim of the project is each year a different vacant space in Medicine Hat is chosen and students are then given the opportunity within Minecraft education to actually design builds on what they think would be the most thoughtful use of space for that part of the city,” Tschritter said.

“This year’s was on the Southeast Hill, on the old Central Park School. A lot adjacent to Central Park, and students were really challenged to think through what can I build that will at its heart, benefit not only the Southeast Hill community, but Medicine Hat as a whole.”

Students from Grades 3 through 9 participated in the projected, with each having their own individual ideas.

“The students start off in the Minecraft education world exploring a realistic version of the Southeast Hill in a 3D virtual reality,” Tschritter said.

“The students then have the opportunity to see what did the different virtual residents of that area want for their community,” he added.

“They did some free planning in order to think, what can I build that will really benefit these people living in that area.”

Tschritter said the opportunities for cross-curricular connections with this project are endless.

“It has opportunities for everything from computer sciences, with the Minecraft component, to maths, with measuring area and perimeter, and not only that looking at percentage of space for zoning types,” Tschritter said.

“It also provides opportunities in English language arts for students to practice the presentation skills as each student was required to design a presentation after finishing their Minecraft build to explain how their build will leave a lasting legacy in our community.”

Tchritter said students were engaged with more than the video game portion of the project.

“They get so into how can I thoughtfully benefit my community? I think it shows that we have a wonderful group of future student leaders, not only at our school, but across our school division as a whole,” Tschritter said.

Shawn Champagne the superintendent of planning for the city reviewed each of the builds and presentations and then decided who to announce as a winner.

Tschritter said the criteria included the thoughtful community benefit and design at its heart.

One of the six winners was Merritt Haland, a grade four student at Ross Glen School.

He decided a sports complex was the best use of the vacant lot on the Southeast Hill.

“I really like sports and I thought that the tennis courts are pretty far away, and soccer you can play at the Central Park, but if it’s in the winter, you can play indoor and same with basketball,” Haland said.

“It was really fun because I really like Minecraft. and just to learn how to do it was really fun,” he added.

“I learned a lot. I liked doing the slideshow, and just building was really fun.”

by Jesse Gill

Winners of Minecraft Future Builders program honoured at city hall

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