FUTURE SCHOOLING DURING THE APOCALYPSE

To: People and Governing Body of New Las Cruces

From: Leading Engineers and Educators of New Las Cruces
Submission date:

I/ INSTRUCTION:
We have planned a project to construct a local school in our community that we entreat the head
quarter to invest into our project and to support workers and infrastructure to construct this
school. Even though we are in the emergency of facing the zombie pandemic, we will have to
continue our life and rebuild the world. Thus, the need for schooling is crucial to help nurture the
new generation.

II/ CURRENT SITUATION:

The zombie apocalypse has been breaking out for 5 years, destroying most parts of the country;
and one- third of the world’s population was infected. However, our city is one of the fortunate
lands that survives until now. We have investigated that there is a growing young generation in
our city who will need to be educated to prepare for the future. Without education, the future
might be the end for them and our city. When the outbreak first happened, we all prioritized our
safety and survival. But now that we have stabilized and have become a sustainable community,
it is time to start growing.

“The Forgetting Curve”

http://www.flashcardlearner.com/articles/the-forgetting-curve/
The decline of education among new generations without schooling increases exponentially
throughout time. Even a student with normal schooling has the retention rate of a certain subject
shown above in the Figure. We can see that without constant schooling, much of the material that
the students have learned will cease to remember over the course of a year, even a week later
students average retention rate is 20%. It’s been 5 years since the apocalypse began, so we can
already estimate how much education most of your children have retained over the years; but
don’t worry! We are qualified professionals in educating grades K-12, and have helped many
communities throughout the apocalypse.

III/ PROJECT PLAN:

A/ Gathering Population Data:

The first order of business will be to determine the size of the school. In preparation for this, we
organized the first official census of our local community of New Las Cruces. The data from our
census is as follows,

New Las Cruces Age Distribution (2026 Census Data)

Age Range: 0-18 18-30 30-50 50-70 70+ Total

# in Range: 856 1,503 1,396 701 67 4,523

New Las Cruces Age Distribution by Education Level (2026 Census Data)

Age Elementary Ages 6-11 Middle Ages 11-14 High Ages 14-18 Total
Range:

# in 329 156 205 704

Range:

(Data referenced from: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_203.10.asp)

(https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_203.10.asp)

B/ Determining Size & Floorplan :

When determining how small or large to build our school, first we need to determine our student-
to-teacher ratios. Our summary and analysis of the provided data indicates that the best
distribution is as follows:
 Elementary Middle High
Students per 27-35 20-25 22-26
classroom
Classes per level 11 7 8

Now we have a headcount of all students which will be attending this school, and we have
separated them by age into classes, of which there are 27 total.

Using this information, we could go ahead and design a building with 27 classrooms and call it a
day, but that would not be the best use of our resources. Instead, it would be best to build a
building with 14 classrooms, and allow classes to attend on alternating days, thereby reducing
our daily needs by half.

This will be more than suitable for our current situation, and addresses the immediate need for
education. Of course, further classroom structures may be built over time as the demand
increases, which we will detail in a secondary report post-construction.

As follows are the floorplans for two separate structures. The first being the core of our new
facility, the 14-classroom building (Figure 1). This building will be functioning on a daily basis
as the education center for the youth in our community. The second is a smaller 7-room office
building which will serve as the administration building for the new school (Figure 2).

Figure 1(https://www.ramtechmodular.com/blog/portfolio/fourteen-classroom-13200sf/)
Figure 2 (https://www.ramtechmodular.com/blog/portfolio/seven-room-office-larger-1316sf/)

C/ Finding a Location:

Baylor Canyon DR. (Near the Organ Mountains)

Pros: The pros of this location for the school include a remote location, therefore students will
have the flexibility to get away from problems they may be facing at home. Along with stunning
views of the beautiful Organs, students will get to stay in touch with nature right in the school’s
backyard.

Cons: Although the location is a bit of a distance, students might have trouble finding
transportation to and from school, that’s why the school incorporates a bus line to transport the
students. Another con is we have a strict uniform policy, so therefore everyone in the Las Cruces
area knows who we are.

The remote location of our school offers students a chance to enhance their education, not only
for themselves but also for the peers around them. Located on Baylor Canyon DR just west of
the beautiful Organ mountain range in Las Cruces, the scenery offers an extraordinary backdrop
while students are conducting classwork. Students will be able to view Las Cruces from above as
they drive back down into reality from the mountains.

The grade range will start at Kindergarten and run all the way up through 12th, this means if you
go here you will spend your whole secondary education right here with the Organs. We hope you
join our up and coming team, we will take care of your kids and will remain relevant for a long
time.
 D/ Gathering Material:

To reiterate, we have determined that two buildings are necessary for a fully functioning school.
The first being the 14-classroom building and the second being the administration building.

The primary material for these buildings will be lumber. The bulk of the man hours will be spent
on collecting and preparing this resource. There is an established road to the Sacramento
Mountains which would have the necessary forestry. Fortunately, our community’s previously
constructed lumber mill is expected to be fully functional in the near future. Specifications will
be passed on to the mill when the plan is approved.

As the city council of the New City of Las Cruces, you have the ability to assemble a detachment
of builders for construction, as well as a transportation group to collect logs from the Lincoln
Natl. Forest to the northeast. In the section below we will outline the material needed for the
school as well as an estimation for the manpower needed to follow through with our plan.

Refer to figure 3 below for an illustration of the path from New Las Cruces to Lincoln Forest.

Our infrastructure plan for material assembly is simple. First, goes machinery, which is mainly
utilized to fabricate and gather material that the building is going to need. Second, is labor
needed for the materials to load up ready for transportation, luckily we already have machinery
to load up our trucks, most labor will be utilized gathering the material and safeguarding for
transportation. Lastly is transportation from the site to where the construction is going to take
place.
Machinery
The harvester is mainly utilized for only one purpose, to cut down a tree for the required material
needed. We will need your help in providing the 2 harvesters you have available and the
manpower that goes with it. This will allow us to efficiently gather the material, but depending
on the school/building size it can take up to 2 weeks just to gather the material needed. Each tree
is cut down with high responsibility. Here the harvester operator plays the major role. The
computer system of the harvester calculates the best combination for sawing tree trunks. The
operator has a second to evaluate if the offered material complies with the quality requirements.
The operator makes different assortment logs from the tree trunks, while leftover tree branches,
trimmings, and tops are used to make energy wood, i.e. wood for heat and power generation.

Labor

Most of our workers needed for labor will utilize a bucket truck to cut down a part of the tree so
the harvester can access it efficiently, on rare occasions an experienced line worker will have to
climb the tree because a bucket truck is inaccessible to that area. Logging is physically
demanding and can be dangerous. Workers often spend all their time outdoors since the forestry
site is an hour away from our office. Logging workers will harvest forests to provide the raw
material that is needed for the required construction, and often have to work 12 hour days to
meet the required agenda for the project. Although work can be tedious at times, there will
always be breaks and lunch in between hours to regenerate the workers.

Transportation:

After all material has been cut, we rely on efficient transportation from the site to the
construction zone, to further optimize each trip there are 3 semis available for use, which have
top tier technology that makes transportation much more efficient. We will need your help with
providing these semi’s for a time of just 2-3 weeks. The trucks are equipped with modern
technologies such as computers and GPS navigation with maps. These technologies allow
efficient planning of timber transportation routes. Timber haulers are state of the art, which are
well equipped for performing a particular task especially since modern day transportation has
ceased during the apocalypse.

https://www.lvm.lv/mezsaimniecibas-cikls/en/mezizstrade/ka

In total, our buildings will be 14,516 square feet. Using our Timber Calculator, we have
determined that at least half a thousand 2x4 cuts will be needed. This amounts to 22,750 board
feet. We will be able to collect 150 to 200 board feet per log, which amounts to a need of 110 to
150 logs depending on the height and thickness of the trees. Refer to figure 4 below for a
visualization of material needs.

Structure Square Ft Board Ft Linear Ft Log Req

Building A 13,200 20,000 45,760 100-130

( 14 classrooms)
Building B 1,316 2,047 4,680 10-13
( Administration)

IV/ OUR EXPERIENCE:

Our team consists of many different people. We have engineers that thaw out the building plans
for your specific community, taking into account the population of each grade so we can
maximize efficiency to their learning potential. We also have people with administrative
education backgrounds and teachers that lay down the foundations for the community to become
self sufficient with education. The majority of our teachers before the pandemic were graded
highly effective with their teaching strategies, and we have adapted our modules due to the
apocalypse to further boost the education of all our alumni. Our education modules are mostly
Kinesthetic, which have a big correlation with retention rates among students. Our number one
priority is to get our new generations back on track with the education system, but the
apocalypse gave us a major opportunity, which is to revolutionize the education system on it’s
most optimal track.

Especially during times like these, we are unique because not many if not none organizations
offer what we have to offer. Our priority is to ensure the education of new generations so our
society/community can operate at maximum efficiency. The apocalypse gave us a chance to
revolutionize the education system, which is why our modules are mostly Kinesthetic all
throughout the local 13 communities that we have helped. We are the only firm/district to offer
what we have to offer, and it’s vital for a community to have a jumpstart with the new
generations to come.
V/ ACTION FOR NOW OR NEVER:

The community has been losing trust in the government since the pandemic broke out, and this is
a great chance to get their belief back. This project does not only benefit the residents, but for the
governments as well. Since there is complete disapproval of the nation’s government and leaders
in this time of crisis. We strongly propose that the head quarter of government will take our
project into consideration as the importance for it cannot be ignored. Making it a reality is totally
possible with the support from you. The school is the hope for the new world and for us- who are
the previous generation.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Brock Middleton

Lead Engineer
494-295-6070

Eduardo Padilla

Principle of Education
454-295-5550

Huy Mai

Lead Architect
592-312-8020
 REFERENCE:
Mezi,L( n.d). What kind of machinery is used for logging.
Retrieved from: https://www.lvm.lv/mezsaimniecibas-cikls/en/mezizstrade/kadu-tehniku-
izmanto-mezizstradei