The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SAE School uses reflective playground
Students learn lessons in climate change with donated material.
For the past two months, students at the SAE School in Mableton have been conducting an experiment.
Each day, they measured the surface temperature of the school’s blacktop parking lot and compared it to a test parking spot that had been painted with a special reflective coating. They found that the black asphalt was up to 12 degrees hotter than the section that had been coated.
“It’s been really cool to find out, like, the different temperatures you see different days,” said 13-year-old Paris Howard, an 8th grader at SAE. “It’s definitely made me think more in depth of how our climate is changing.”
On Thursday, Howard and her classmates watched as the private school’s basketball court and playground were painted in the same reflective coating in bright colors according to a design chosen by the student body. The project was funded by New Jersey-based GAF, which is owned by Standard Industries and manufactures the coating that the company says reflects ultraviolet and infrared waves and reflects heat without glare.
The past decade has been the warmest on record for the Southeast region. Georgia’s three hottest years on record all have occurred since 2016. Annual average temperatures in Atlanta have risen about 3 degrees since 1930, and the city experiences roughly six more heat waves each year than it did in the 1960s, according to an AJC analysis of federal data.
Experts say using reflective materials on roads and rooftops could help curb the urban heat island effect that causes cities like Atlanta to be much hotter than surrounding areas.
While the playground is just a small patch of pavement, Scott Starowicz, the school’s co-founder and chief financial officer, said he hopes the lessons to the broader community will have a ripple effect.
“My hope is that other schools do it as well and follow our lead,” Starowicz said. “It is a small project, but we’re educating the next generation.”
The issue of climate change especially is relevant to SAE’S study body, which is 94% minority students, Starowicz said. Studies have shown racial and ethnic minorities particularly are vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, including extreme heat.
Atlanta is one of a handful of cities across the country that have undertaken heat mapping projects to identify the neighborhoods at greatest risk from rising temperatures and longer heatwaves.
SAE is a private school of 374 students, from infants to eighth grade, that focuses on science, arts and entrepreneurship. The playground at the Mableton Parkway campus will feature two basketball courts, hopscotch, four square and some other decorations featuring the school’s dragon mascot.
Eliot Wall, general manager of Streetbond GAF, which makes the reflective coating and sponsored the project, said his company has done work at more than 130 schools nationwide.
“We found elsewhere through research that the vibrant colors and actually the surface being cooler encourages kids to play more,” Wall said. “It has a positive impact on, obviously, activity and fitness, which then leads to better behavior in class.”