The world of running shoes changed with the first Nike Vaporfly. Since then, the shoes have kept getting better and better. Today, almost every performance-wear brand has got their own version of the revolutionary shoes and its carbon fiber plate. Naturally, the reboot model, called Vaporfly 3, sparked quite a bit of interest among athletes and marathon runners. So, what’s so good about them?

Nike ZoomX Vaporfly 3

Many athletes are wondering whether the newer model is worth it. The quick answer is, yes. Let’s find out why. Firstly, the new model comes with a more sculpted design than Nike Vaporfly 4%. The brand has also claimed the rebooted version restored more energy than the original. Other than that, significant changes really come from the new model’s design.

The lateral Swoosh of this model is not as oversized as the previous one. It provides a more modest look and pays homage to the original Nike Vaporfly worn by many athletes back in 2017. The midsole has gone through a complete transformation.

The Nike Vaporfly 3 has a midsole carved entirely via foam. Another distinctive change is that designers have cut a wedge of foam on each side of the shoe, plus one from the sole. So, the new model is not as sleek as Vaporfly 2.

Other Versions of Nike’s Ulitmate Running Shoe

We shouldn’t overlook all other versions of Nike Vaporfly, though. First launched in 2017, the original shoe has seen so many updates that it is becoming harder and harder to come up with improvements. Designers of today have to rely on out-of-the-box thinking to invent even better running shoes.

Some of the notable prior versions of the Nike Vaporfly shoe include Vaporfly Next% 2, Vaporfly Next%, and AlphaFly. The latter version has sacks of air packed inside the midsole and has been used to break the two-hour marathon barrier.

Finally, the new model works pretty much the same way as all other versions. Namely, it relies on a combination of a carbon fiber plate and soft running foam. As Nike has stated more than once, their performance shoes are likely to help athletes recover faster from long runs.

Every year, kindergarteners arrive at education facilities for the first time and many of them burst into tears because of separation anxiety. However, it wasn’t nearly as frightening for first-year students at one new Pittsburgh-area school this year. Tracy Vitale, superintendent of the suburban Seneca Valley School District, only saw only kid crying, and when Vitale led her to the colorful, winding ramp that curls up the center of the school, the child instantly cheered up.

Seneca Valley’s Ehrman Crest

K-6 students at Seneca Valley’s Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle Schools are benefiting from an unusual collaboration. The $63 million project, which took 790 days to complete, was collaborated on by school leaders, architects, and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. The 200,000-square-foot facility, which has a student capacity of 1,400, takes a novel approach, foregoing the traditional school design in favor of the interactive, playful, and colorful elements of a children’s museum.

Public schools and the Children’s Museum both had the same goal, which was to provide education for children but the methods and paths they took were vastly different. Michael Corb is the architect behind the project. He says that public schools should be doing it like Children’s Museum.

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, which opened in 1983 on the city’s North Side, receives over 300,000 visitors each year. It’s well-known for its innovative, interactive, and multilayered play elements. The Makeshop, where kids can play, create, and design using processes like woodworking; Waterplay, where kids can get a little wet while doing activities involving spray, ice, and rain, and the Limb Bender, a stacked maze where kids can crawl and climb, are all popular areas of the museum.

The Future of Education

The Ehrman Crest difference is visible from the front entrance, where children can watch water dribble from a roof funnel down a rain chain. Signs with intriguing features provide prompts rather than definitions, and they are intended to inspire more students to collaborate with their teachers and classmates.

The giant, twisting ramp inside the main lobby has magnetic walls that display colorful geometric shapes. From the top landing, you can peek through small windows into kindergarten areas with whimsical lights and soft benches in fun colors like navy blue and lime green. Kindergarteners can see older students in action through a glass wall that overlooks the middle school cafeteria.

Rooftop Gardens and More

Outside the kindergarten classrooms, children can access rooftop gardens, where they can grow plants such as lettuce in the spring, as well as a “merry-go-pedal” playground structure with small bikes instead of horses. Gardening will be done at a few different locations on campus by students of all grade levels.

Erhman Crest is known for its colorful, quirky, and incredibly comfortable furniture. Teachers were free to choose their own furniture and personalize their surroundings. Moving partitions and furniture in the classrooms promote student collaboration and hands-on education. Desks are curved-edge tables that can move and connect. They can also function as whiteboards. According to district officials, the classroom design focuses on flexibility and how every space can connect together for the sake of education.

Ehrman Crest really looks like a place that’s the future of elementary and middle school education, with corridors and rooms filled with smiling children.