Virtual Tour Becomes a Reality for Everett, WA Students

Everett, WA - On Friday, May 29th, a group of 23 third-graders from Lakewood’s English Crossing Elementary School took a tour of the new Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington.

Since last fall when the “jaws of destruction” started taking down a parking garage to make way for a new medical tower, nine-year-old Austin has been mesmerized with the process.  Each day from his Lakewood home, he’d check his computer for the updated webcam view of the $500 million construction project at Providence Regional Medical Center’s Colby Campus. 

With Austin’s enthusiastic prompting, his third-grade teacher, Ms. Angela Lohry, engaged his entire class at Lakewood’s English Crossing Elementary School to learn about communities, construction, scientific predictions and more via the hospital’s construction webcam. She incorporated it into every part of their education, even having students read books about how skyscrapers are built.  She used their computer lab to keep track of the construction via weekly webcam big-screen viewing.   

Since September, Ms. Lohry’s third-grade class has had a virtual front-row seat for the onstruction of the new 12-story medical tower.  Friday, the class took a real-life tour of the project to culminate the year-long learning experience. Click here to see additional photos.

“This is a great time to see the construction site live.  These kids have been watching the construction via webcam a long time -- now they’ll come, put on hard hats, and see first- hand the tower cranes as the steel framework is put in place,” said David Brooks, CEO Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.  “It’s a great opportunity to learn.”