The idea of the GNBVT Bear hedge came from a well-known landmark in downtown, New Bedford. Based off this landmark, Euzebio Arruda, our school’s facility manager, thought our school should have its own marker that could be seen from the skies. His goal was to bring the same effect and pride created by the landscaping to our GNB Voc-Tech community.
The bear hedge was created by a landscaping company called New Beginnings. This company was founded by Carol Randolph in 1979. The school was incredibly impressed with their work. The size of the hedges was 64 ft wide and 24 ft high, the individual letters on the topiary were 17 ft long by 8 feet, which is incredibly huge in person. There are a total of 160 shrubs. In the future they plan to add LED lights to the bottom of the Bear hedge to create a reflection of the Bear sign.
A few other side projects GNBVT have accomplished are with Collision, HVAC in the school, the auditorium, and exterior landscaping.
For Collision, it’s new and updated ERV units. School-wide there has been an update in the fresh air and heating units in eight different shops. The auditorium project was a huge undertaking; all new seating, carpet, flooring, and LED lights were added to provide a great new look. Finally, the facilities team removed the hills in the front of the school. By removing the hills in front of the parking lot, the school’s security was improved since the viewing was leveled for better security, to help everyone evacuate quickly, and make visibility better.
