April 30, 1999		Dedication Set for Strawbale Building at Eastwood Elementary Media Contact: Brad Masi (440) 775-8409
			OBERLIN, OHIO--"The strawbale house that the big bad wolf couldn't blow down," as Eastwood Elementary students describe the school's new tool shed, will be dedicated Friday, May 7 at 10 a.m. at the school's Community Garden, located on the northeast side of the site. In the event of rain, the dedication will be held in the Eastwood gymnasium. Leading the dedication will be author David Eisenberg, a nationally renowned expert on strawbale construction and one of the original builders of the Biosphere 2 project. That afternoon, Eisenberg also will give a free public address on natural building design in Room 101 of Oberlin College's Wilder Hall at 4:30 p.m. The dedication will include performances by Eastwood K-2 students and remarks by George Espy, executive director of Seventh Generation; Eastwood teacher Sarah Lee; Mark Hoberecht, a NASA Engineer and lead designer for the toolshed; and Brad Masi, project coordinator for the Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program. "The strawbale toolshed was a true community endeavor, involving over 200 Eastwood school children, teachers, parents, Oberlin College students, and professional tradesmen in the two months that it took to construct the shed," says Masi. "The beautifully crafted slate roof was installed by Pat Ives, a third-generation roofer based in Oberlin. A timber frame, comprised of tulip poplar trees harvested on Amish-owned forests in Ohio, supports the slate roof. The straw-bale walls stand on a sandstone base and are covered with a plaster made of clay, sand, and water. Students at Eastwood mixed the plaster and applied it to the strawbale walls themselves. Students also painted the front door of the toolshed. A sandstone plaque, carved by local stoneworker Chris Meluch, is engraved with the words 'Eastwood: 1998' and two tulip poplar leaves." The toolshed will store tools and equipment for the Community Garden that was established at the school during the spring of 1998. Lee plans on using the garden to teach children about nature and their connection to natural cycles. The garden features both vegetable crops and wildflowers that attract butterflies and birds and serves as a site for school children and teachers to interact with adults. Masi adds: "The toolshed is composed entirely of locally harvested or recycled materials, including a foundation made from sandstone blocks from the old Oberlin Conservatory of music, wood harvested from Ohio forests and milled at an Amish lumberyard, clay from a local housing excavation, straw from a local farm, and slate recycled from an old church in downtown Oberlin. "The purpose behind the toolshed was to more closely involve the College and community in the activities of the school," says Masi. "Embodied within the toolshed is a unique story about our local place, as told through the wood, stone, straw, and slate. "A group of Oberlin College students spent January winter term absorbing the story of the strawbale toolshed by interviewing local craftspeople and residents familiar with the materials and researching the materials' origins. What they learned will be compiled in an upcoming publication and used to write a children's story about the toolshed so that future generations of East-wood children can understand the story that it tells about our local place," Masi states. The strawbale toolshed and the Eastwood Community Garden are part of the Watershed Education Project that promotes environmental education by engaging youth with their own local places. The Project is a partnership among the Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program; Seventh Generation, a Lorain County environmental organization; and Lorain County public schools.