Project Pushes Development of Young Minds

The developers nervously practiced their big pitch as they waited for city officials and planners to arrive. At stake were 300 affordable housing units for low- and middle-income residents. A hard sell in an upscale community typically against much growth of any kind.

But these developers--also students at Apollo Continuation High School--were determined in their mock presentation Wednesday to win over Simi Valley’s real leaders.

They did.

“These kids are awesome,” said Simi Valley Planning Commissioner Dean Kunicki. “Knowing Apollo is a special school for kids who don’t fit the mold, I wasn’t sure what to expect coming here. But they’ve renewed my faith in the potential we have in Simi Valley.”

Students in a combined government and business class at Apollo were given the task of redeveloping a decaying urban community, based on a real neighborhood near downtown St. Louis. The exercise was sponsored by developer New Urban West Inc.

Teachers Jay Green and Jerry Neri said the project was a daunting task for their 25 students, who had to learn to tackle all the environmental, demographic and financial issues--not to mention the deadlines--that any real developer must face.

“A lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth took place, but the kids realized their talents and made it,” Neri said.

They had two weeks to take $40 million, plot the redevelopment of a community and turn a projected profit. Tuesday night, senior Bill Frankhauser was still painting roads and buildings on the display model for the next morning’s presentation.

“Bill was like our CEO, even though we didn’t officially have one,” Neri said about the 17-year-old. “He really took charge and became our numbers guy.”

During the presentation, Bill outlined where all $40 million went, even pointing out a $2-million contingencies budget.

“In case anything goes wrong, you know, like lawsuits,” he said to laughs from the city officials.

Kunicki said he was impressed with the detail of the plan.

“I can’t get over the depth of their thought process,” the planning commissioner said. “I even tried to test them, but they had all the right answers.”

At one point, Kunicki asked why the model’s indoor community pool was not next to the planned elementary school.

Because young children don’t need an Olympic-sized pool, the students told him. If it were a high school, then they would have planned it differently.

“Good answer!” Kunicki cheered. “I can’t trip you guys up.”

Brandon Pickering, a 17-year-old junior who also stayed after school to put last-minute touches on the colorful city model, said the hard work paid off.

“We were going crazy when we started, but hitting it off today feels real good,” he said.

Mary McMaster agreed. The 16-year-old sophomore said she thinks the school and city officials visiting Apollo got a clear message from her classmates. “We just want people to recognize us as thinking persons, not just kids in high school,” she said.