Students in the Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical School's architecture and construction management (ACM) class, housed at Gahanna Lincoln High School, have been designing banks for the past month.

"We do project-based learning," class instructor Jeff Gilger said, adding that this assignment required each student to go to a different branch bank, take photos and get as much information as possible before sharing with the rest of the class what each had learned.

Because the class includes students who live in Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Whitehall and Ashville, Gilger said, the students went to banks that are in the area where they live.

Gilger said he had received a few phone calls from inquiring branch managers but said people usually participate once they understand how the class works.

Students who enroll in the program learn how to design and construct buildings from start to finish.

Through the branch-bank project, Gilger said, students compared notes about how existing bank branches are set up and then designed their own.

The students worked in teams, presenting their final drawings Nov. 20.

Different local bank managers attended, and professionals in the architecture world were able to give the students advice on their presentations, talking about what works in their drawings and what might not work.

"Their design was for a hypothetical bank," Gilger said, adding that the students even named their own banks.

During the project, students learned how to put together a computer model of a building, including creating site plans and landscaping plans. They also were challenged to create a cost estimate for the project.

According to information from the Gahanna-Jefferson Public School District, few programs have been as successful as the architecture and construction management program, which attracts many interested students, who are challenged by the "mix of disciplines" in the program.

lwince@thisweeknews.com