Breaking Ground Education Services

BGES Becomes Trainer for ABC of the Carolinas

2011-09-07T11:05:00.006-04:00

Breaking Ground Contracting has been a long-time, dedicated member of the Associated Builders and Contractors organization, both in the Jacksonville First Coast Chapter and the Tampa Gulf Coast Chapter. In fact, Mary Tappouni serves as the current 2011-2012 Chair for the First Coast Chapter. BGES is proud that we have served a number of chapters as a provider of green, LEED and other educational offerings in the past, and now we are proud to be providing training to another chapter, ABC of the Carolinas.

Working closely with Tim Eldridge, VP of Workforce Development for the chapter, we have enjoyed providing quality LEED education to contractors in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas. I even experienced the earthquake last month while teaching a class in Raleigh! Next up in November, we're headed to Charleston and back to Charlotte for a LEED Green Associate exam prep course. These courses are so important to our industry, and being able to provide educational opportunities to promote a strong understanding of LEED and green construction and design principles to contractors and subcontractors is an honor and pleasure. The feedback we get is very positive, and we look forward to more training with other ABC chapters.

Documenting Breaking Ground Green Roof

2011-07-07T14:08:00.003-04:00

Breaking Ground Contracting has completed the design and installation of its cutting edge vegetated roof, part of a major building renovation on track for LEED Platinum certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. The vision of president, Mary Tappouni, has finally come to fruition, and our green roof designer, Kevin Songer of MetroVerde, has been an amazing partner to us in this endeavor. Follow the progress on the Breaking Ground Green Roof blog at www.breakinggroundgreenroof.com. We are have been documenting the project from the start and we post almost daily about the plants and biodiversity that inhabit our rooftop. We're even showing our community how to grow vegetables on our rooftop garden! Join us for the conversation!

Green on the Roof, Green on the Walls....Nature Everywhere!

2011-01-28T17:02:00.010-05:00

As part of Breaking Ground Contracting's corporate office remodel, a complete renovation project on track for LEED Platinum certification, we will be installing a green, or vegetated, roof. There is a lot of misinformation about green roofs, so suffice it to say that when you make the decision to move forward with this amazingly sustainable strategy, you had better do your homework! And we have. Our green roof is designed by a local green roof expert, Kevin Songer.

So, why have a green roof? There is a laundry list of benefits for a green roof design , including decreasing stormwater runoff, promoting habitat, growing food in urban environments and insulating the building. There are also ways of extending that green concept to vertical walls as well, providing some of the same benefits as a green roof, only going vertical!!

We are excited that the new roof on our corporate office will be sporting a 10kW photovoltaic (PV) solar system alongside our beautiful green roof. Keep checking back with us to see our progress. Our building, due to be re-occupied next month, will be promoted as a community educational tool, so we will be posting quite a bit of information and photos as we begin our move back to our home on Highway Avenue!

I have posted a link to Kevin Songer's blog site, which has a wealth of information on green roofs, vertical green, permaculture (growing food on the roof!) and many other sustainable concepts involving living things. Look closely and you'll see photos of the BGC remodel project! Take a visit!

Breaking Ground Presents at Greenbuild!

2010-11-24T10:21:00.015-05:00

Mary Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting, Corie Baker of C Squared Design and Lisa Sheppard with the City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department presented a fantastic session on historic green at the recent USGBC Greenbuild Conference in Chicago. The session proved to be extremely informative and was well-received by the attendees. The topic matter is really relevant in today's market not only because the housing market is driving more renovations, but because renovation with an emphasis on green and LEED is becoming more and more mainstream.

Mary, Corie and Lisa take renovating green one step further with the idea of renovating green on historic buildings. Lisa stated, "The greenest building is the one already built," a quote from Carl Elefante, which kicked off the presentation's focus on why to renovate, and more importantly, why renovate green. Corie presented information from the architectural standpoint on what makes historic buildings green, and Mary brought it home with the practical application and construction processes for the actual green and LEED renovation of an historic building.

Breaking Ground is so proud of Mary for being accepted as part of this panel for this coveted speaking engagement and for her seemingly effortless presentation of the material! Kudos to Corie for putting together the submission package! Great going ladies....you make us all proud!!

Me and Green Does It Again!

2010-10-29T15:20:00.004-04:00

Me and Green, Breaking Ground Education's children's book about sustainability and our connections to our home, planet Earth, has just won it's third award. Just last week, Me and Green was named as a finalist in the category of Children's Education in the USA Book News 2010 Best Books Awards. To see a listing of all winners and finalists in the 2010 USA Book News Best Book Awards, go to:

http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooks2010.html

To order your copy of Me and Green, go to our web site at www.breakinggroundeducation.com. It makes a great gift for your children, students, parents and teachers! We also have a class set of 18 books available for a great holiday teacher gift and comes complete with bookmarks and a reusable grocery bag....I promise, your child's teacher doesn't need another wooden apple with a pen or apple apron! I speak from experience!!

Water War?

2010-08-20T08:55:00.007-04:00

When I was a kid, we used to visit friends of our family who had a home on Little Gasparilla Island. The sign on the water closet (a.k.a. commode) said,

"In the land of sun and fun,

we NEVER flush for number ONE."

This was in the early 70s. Living on a beautiful island in Florida, they knew how precious water was, both for drinking and for the pleasure of it.

What is the state of our water, both in quantity and quality, and what is needed to properly manage the future of this natural resource? These are a few of the key questions that were addressed at the recent "Water's Role in Northeast Florida" panel disucussion presented by the Jacksonville Business Jornal and sponsored by JEA and Jacksonville University.

The panel consisted of a diverse group of experts including a scientist/educator, author, a businessman and an attorney, all with specific expertise on this topic. This diversity allowed for frank and spirited dialogue on how our water is be evaluated, used and abused and what we can do to ensure that we have enough clean water for drinking and enjoyment for future generations.

This is a topic that we at Breaking Ground find viable and extremely important as sustainable contractors, and it is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Growing up as a native Floridian, I am a water baby. I grew up playing in the Hillsborough River, skiing in Tampa Bay and surrounding lakes and fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and Boca Grande. I walked along the beaches of the west coast most of my life, and now walk in the sand along the Atlantic Ocean now. Forget that water is a necessary resource for life...water is also a resource that brings great joy and economic prosperity.

So what was the main concensus from the panel?....CONSERVE! Not suprising, huh? Yes, we have a lot of water. But only a tiny fraction is drinkable. The rest has to be treated, which takes energy and produces waste. So, we have to change the way we think about water! Is this really a news flash? We learned when I was in elementary school to turn off the water while we brushed our teeth, and that was more years ago than I like to admit. However, we're still having the same conversations. We cannot continue to waste our potable water on our lawns, and pouring pesticides and fertilizers on said lawn is contributing greatly to the toxicity of surrounding water bodies. Is it really that difficult to make small changes? Is it really that tough to change the mindset about how we landscape our communites? Is it really so hard to use native and adaptive plants that thrive in our challenging climate? Do we have to blow grass into our storm drains, which, by the way, does not go to some water cleaning fairy...it goes into the rivers, lakes, streams and tributaries! It really isn't that hard. It's easy. The Earth is our home. Period. We need to protect her, love her and change behaviors that will help her to thrive and flourish, not suffocate and die.

As Forrest Gump says, "That's all I've got to say about that."

Me and Green Wins Indie Award!!!

2010-07-30T15:36:00.004-04:00

We are so proud!

Me and Green has won the National Indie Excellence Award in the category of Evironmental/Green! The NIEA contest shines a spotlight on self- and independendently-published books that demonstrate excellence. National Indie Excellence Award judges are professionals from all aspects of the independent book industry, from book cover and interior designers and professional copywriters to publishers, writers, editors and more. They select award winners and finalists based on overall excellence of presentation. For more information on the Indie Awards, follow this link: http://www.indieexcellence.com/

Go Me and Green!!!

2010-03-19T10:34:00.008-04:00

We are so excited that Me and Green has earned its first award finalist title! Our book is a finalist in ForeWord Magazine's 2009 Book of the Year Awards in the category of Juvenile Non-Fiction. The awards are designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across of variety of genres The finalists, representing 360 publishers, were selected from 1,400 entries in 60 categories and are examples of independent publishing at its best!

As many of you already know, Me and Green was written by Therese Tappouni of the ISIS Institute, Mary Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting and, yours truly, Catherine Burkee. The focus of the book is designed to help children and their families understand their connection to our home, Earth, and how our choices impact this beautiful planet.

The winners of the 2009 Book of the Year Awards will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America in New York City on May 25th. Here is a link to ForeWord Magazine's site for additional information:
http://www.bookoftheyearawards.com/

Me and Green Goes to School

2010-03-03T16:33:00.019-05:00

On Friday, February 19th, Mary, Therese and myself, the authors of Me and Green, traveled to St. Paul's School in Clearwater, Florida, to work and play with children in grades pre-K through 8. We went on a mission to see what these kids know and what they might want to know. What we found is what every good teacher comes to realize very quickly....that we do not necessarily always teach kids, but that kids often end up teaching us!

First off, we found that pre-K kids know a lot! They know that they are connected to their home, Earth, and when asked the question, "What happens when we make bad choices about how to treat our Earth?" they respond with something as intense and true as, "The Earth dies!" So we stand in awe of the 4-year-old teachers who are the future environmental stewards of this planet. We read from Me and Green, and had students engage in an activity about reducing, reusing and recycling, and imagined what happens when 300 million people in our country alone choose NOT to do this!

We also connected with 5th-8th graders. What a remarkable experience to talk and work with kids who are already well on their way to understanding the impact their choices make on the Earth. St. Paul's School is already involved in the Green Cup Challenge where the students track energy and water use and report their findings on line. Our challenge to them: you are the ambassadors, the mentors and the role models for those who follow. We talked about this responsibility and how they can manage it well. They are on board. These kids are aware. They are living it. And in a 2 minute activity about why it is important to preserve our Earth for those who follow, they created charts with responses such as, "So that future generations may have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink," and "So that species of animals will not be extinct." These are the same kids that we sometimes stereotype as having no sense of anything other than texting and iPods.

We had similar experiences with the 2nd and 3rd graders, who were truly excited and involved in discussing and participating in activities related to green! Again, refreshing and empowering.

Me and Green was written to assist teachers, parents and children with understanding connections to this planet, Earth, and we are excited and privileged to be talking with kids about these connections, and working with them to expand their knowledge about how to take better care of her. Education is always the key to change. It is the most rewarding work we can do.

Mary Tappouni Wins Prestigious Stevie Award!

2009-12-03T16:45:00.003-05:00

Mary Tappouni continues to be a woman on fire. On November 13, 2009, Mary was honored at the Stevie Awards ceremony in New York City as the winner in the category of Best Entrepreneur, Service Businesses up to 100 Employees.

The Stevie Awards were created to honor and generate recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide. The mission is to raise the profile of exemplary organizations and individuals among the press, the business community and the general public. The Stevie has become one of the world's most coveted awards!

Mary, we are so proud of you and your newest accolade! Your hard work, passion and desire to make a difference are a model for us all! Congratulations!

ME AND GREEN ON AMAZON!!!

2009-10-30T16:53:00.006-04:00

We are thrilled to have Me and Green available at Amazon.com!! If you, or someone you know, would like to purchase our book, you can contact Catherine Burkee directly by phone at 904.388.1350, by email at catherine@breakinggroundcontracting.com or order at http://www.amazon.com/.

This book, written for children and adults alike, emphasizes the connections we have with our home, Mother Earth. Our official book launch is Wednesday, November 4th, at the downtown library's Booktique during the Jacksonville ArtWalk.

Me and Green makes a great gift for a child, parent, grandparent or teacher! Think about your holiday gift-giving list and plan ahead. If you would like an autographed copy, contact Catherine at the phone or email above. Keep it green!!

Me and Green Arrives October 5th!!!

2009-09-16T15:14:00.007-04:00

Breaking Ground Education Services is excited about our children's book entitled Me and Green which is due to be available October 5, 2009. This book is a collaborative effort by Mary Tappouni, Therese Tappouni and Catherine Burkee and is the first in a series of books that will be published for children of all ages!
Me and Green is designed to educate children about their role in keeping our earth happy and healthy, and explores the connections we all have to Earth and each other. Me and Green contains both teacher and parent activities, as well as discussion points, which encourage interaction between parents and their children and teachers and their students. Look for us soon!

Eco Eve Takes Springfield!

2009-07-16T17:42:00.005-04:00

Eco Eve has taken Springfield by storm! She was hatched and brought to her home in front of Three Layers Coffee house on the corner of Walnut and 6th Street. Eve is the turtle sponsored by Breaking Ground Contracting as part of the Turtle Trails project benefiting the Child Guidance Center. She sports a solar panel on her back which generates energy to her torch (not seen in photo). Her body artistry was created by local artist Joanelle Mulrain and reflects the sustainable ideals represented by Breaking Ground's philosophy.
Child Guidance Center is a private, nonprofit agency that understands and treats emotional and/or behavioral problems of children. CGC offers an entire spectrum of counseling and social services - case management, psychiatric services, in-home family and school-based counseling, crisis response, supervised visitation with parent education classes and full-service school programs. A link about CGC and the Turtle Trails project is included under Great Green Links on the left, or you can go to http://www.turtletrails.org/ to get more information.

Mary Tappouni Meets President Obama!

2009-06-05T09:20:00.002-04:00

As many of you already know from my earlier post, Mary Tappouni was selected 2009 Business Person of the Year by the National Small Business Association. As part of the Small Business Week festivities in Washington, D.C., Mary and her mom, Therese Tappouni, were invited to the State Department and were in awe of the history that was before them. The highlight of the trip for Mary was having the opportunity to shake hands with President Obama, a man she admires greatly. I'm not sure she has yet to wash her hand!!! She was giddy with excitement and said it was the greatest honor of her life. The photo above is of Mary and Therese.

Faces of Green Unveiled

2009-06-05T08:56:00.013-04:00

Breaking Ground Education Services unveiled its Faces of Green exhibit to the public for the first time on June 3rd, at Chamblin's Uptown, as part of the Jacksonville Art Walk. The photographs in the exhibit reflect a variety of building construction professionals and community members that have provided their reflections on why green building and green living is important to them. Faces of Green is a photographic campaign that has been over a year in the making, and is a result of Mary Tappouni's vision to create a community outreach project focusing on the "why" of being green. The exhibit features the photography of...you guessed it, Catherine Burkee. The exhibit will be traveling, so keep your eyes on this blog for future locations!!
This post shows a few photos from the exhibit opening:

Mary Tappouni...Small Business Association's 2009 Florida Business Person of the Year!!!

2009-03-13T17:09:00.004-04:00

President Mary Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting Receives SBA Award as 2009 Florida Business Person of the Year! The Jacksonville woman-owned business competed with business owners in 43 counties! Here's a news clip:
Jacksonville, FL., --The U.S. Small Business Administration's North Florida District Office is pleased to announce the 2009 Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Florida. Wilfredo J. Gonzalez, SBA District Director: "We are proud of Ms Tappouni's accomplishments and of her committment to small business and environmentally friendly practices. She is an example of the credence of the importance of small businesses to our American economy." Mary Tappouni has not only excelled at being a female entrepreneur in the male dominated construction field, she has successfully blended her profession with her passion for the environment, and along the way, established a new standard for "green" commercial construction. Mary's creative vision for BGC has produced an organization recognized for excellence in design, building, construction management, pre-construction consultation and education. The company has increased revenues more than three fold since 2004, averaging 56% growth each year. At the same time, the company continued its high level community involvement. Congratulations Mary and BGC!

Kids Teaching Kids

2008-11-13T18:32:00.004-05:00

This past weekend, Breaking Ground Education Services provided a children's workshop entitled, "Where Does the Rain Go?" as part of the Family ArtFest and Salute to the Troops festival supporting the revitalization of the MidTown Centre in historic St. Nicholas (previously known as the Koger Center). The best part of this workshop is that is was not taught by adults, but by fabulously talented children/scientists Jincy and Ruairi Songer. The Songer duo are currently working on many projects involving storm water research and vegetative solutions. You can visit their blog, the St. Johns River Blog, in the "Great Green Links" section on this blog, or at http://www.stjohnsriverblog.blogspot.com/. Jincy and Ruairi did a fantastic job of illustrating through the use of their stormwater model what happens when it rains, where the water goes, and what other elements go along with the water to our rivers, streams and other water bodies. The audience was completely mesmerized as they witnessed all of the black dye, which represents oil, trash and other non-organic material, going from the neighborhood model on top to the beautiful water of the St. John's River below. One of the students actually belted, "You mean all that goes into the water we drink?" Wow, Jincy and Ruairi! A picture, or rather, a model, is definitely worth a thousand words!! Thank you to the Songer Family for all of their support of our workshop. We couldn't have done it without you!

Walking for Clean Air

2008-11-12T15:24:00.006-05:00

On October 25th, many of our Breaking Ground employees, friends and colleagues gathered to walk in support of cleaner air in the inaugural American Lung Association's O2 Green Walk. The walk was held at the beautiful Robert W. Lofton Nature Trails on the campus of The University of North Florida. The goal of the walk was to raise $50,000.00 in support of the ALA's many outstanding programs. The donations from this event came just shy of this figure.

Our corporate logo states, "Construction. Redefined," and, once again, Breaking Ground Contracting is literally walking the walk! In addition to our complete commitment to green and LEED building, our corporate culture is one of community involvement and education, and this event was just one of many that we feel fortunate to have been a part of.

Walking the Walk. Our Corporate Facelift.

2008-08-25T14:52:00.025-04:00

Breaking Ground Contracting will be undergoing a fabulous facelift in the Fall of 2009, and Owner and President Mary Tappouni is LEEDing the charge. Following her vision of a sustainable office building, Mary has assembled a talented integrated design and construction team that will build this project with a goal of platinum LEED certification! Yes, our sweet, little office building will boast such innovations as a vegetative roof and photovoltaic solar panels with a structural roof design to accommodate it all. In addition, we will have an energy-efficient HVAC system, landscaping that will bring the outdoors in and indoor air quality that will make us all want to breathe deeply. There are too many quality facets of this project to name here, but keep watching for updates! Involved in the design and construction team are: Mary Tappouni, Owner of Breaking Ground Contracting, Michelle Tappouni, General Manger Breaking Ground Contracting, Ellen Reed, Business Development Director Breaking Ground Contracting and LEED Facilitator on the project, Marie Hurst, Interior Desinger, Kevin Songer, Vegetated Roof and Landscaping Consultant, Kirby Bujarski, Superintendent, Mark Gelfo, Commissioning Authority, Jeff Stone, Mechnanical Engineer, John Hall, Plumbing Engineer, Tamara Baker, Structural Engineer, Mark Mechling, Civil Engineer, Robin Ackerman, Tenant Representative, Catherine Burkee, Education Consultant, Marc Skarecki, Solar Consultant and Rick Anderson, Roofing Contractor. follow along with us as we post information, photos and stories that take you with us through the LEED process from start to finish. Some photos are inserted in this post, but to view a photo listing of six charette photos and captions go to http://breakinggroundrenovation.shutterfly.com/ and enjoy!

Offset your carbon footprint...here's how!

2008-07-24T08:49:00.007-04:00

Ever heard of a Terrapass? I hadn't either until I immersed myself in the world of sustainable living. Although we humans cannot completely undo the damage we create on this beautiful home we call Earth, we can help to fund cleaner technologies and projects that contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emmissions. Go to http://www.terrapass.com/ to see the variety of ways the purchase of a Terrapass can work towards supporting these projects.

No Field of Dreams

2008-07-23T10:48:00.011-04:00

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but I had just completed reading a section of Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. This particular section of the book eloquently and non-judgmentally focused on the difficulty children have finding spaces in which to play and be creative. Then, BAM!...there it was the very next day in the New York Times... an article entitled, "Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come." This article illustrates the perfect case and point about how we, as adults, don't understand why children no longer play outside like we did, yet we continue to place boundries and parameters on them that did not exist for us as children. One of the very last paragraphs in the article is reason enough for every parent, teacher and teenager to read Richard Louv's book: The regular players, mostly high school boys but including Tara Currivan, 15 (who swings a mean bat and brings lemonade to the field), and Scott Atkinson, 13, seem a little befuddled by the whole thing. “They think we’re a cult,” said Jeff Currivan, 17. “People think we should be home playing ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ ”

Here's the link to the article which ran on Thursday, July 10, 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10towns.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Building%20a%20Field%20of%20Dreams&st=cse&oref=slogin