HUNTER DWORACZYK [email protected]
Legacy Early College High School students had the opportunity to exhibit real life skills recently.
Four groups of ninth graders presented plans to T.H. Johnson Elementary staff that include additional equipment and other features to enhance learning opportunities and accessibility for all students, including those in wheelchairs.
Meanwhile, four groups of 11th grade students presented proposals to improve Main Street Elementary’s Gifted and Talented program, specifically how to implement 3-D printers into the curriculum.
Groups from both grade levels introduced their ideas Friday, Dec. 1 at their respective schools.
“(It was) two vastly different projects and our students came up with lots of different ways that they could approach the opportunity,” project organizer and English teacher Kelly Windham said. “It’s really cool to see them grow in that way and push themselves in ways they hadn’t before. It was real-world problems and they were the ones who came up with real-world solutions.”
LECHS math teacher Collin Brown, who also
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It’s really cool to see them grow in that way and push themselves in ways they hadn’t before. It was real-world problems and they were the ones who came up with real-world solutions.”
-English teacher Kelly Windham assisted with supervising the project, said students sorted themselves into groups of anywhere from four to eight members. Once they were in their teams, they spent the past two and a half months planning the proposals.
Student groups were required to include budgets, research costs, implementation timelines and how their project may continue.
Brown said he saw a maturity growth among the students as the projects went along. Through the process, he said they learned valuable skills such as how to research, budget, give presentations and build community.
“We want to make sure that they have those skills and knowledge of the world around them,” Brown said. “Basically, we wanted to make sure they aren’t just looking in and focusing on themself. That’s kind of where the project came along.”
Teachers at LECHS believe in service learning, Windham said.
While senior students spend time every Friday in the community doing some kind of service, Windham thought it would be beneficial for year-long projects to be required for other grade levels.
“We don’t want them to just wake up one day, and senior year they go out and serve,” Windham said. “We want to make it something that is consistent. That’s why we started this initiative.”
Windham said choosing to direct the service towards other Taylor Independent School District campuses stems from this year’s LECHS staff motto.
The phrase selected for this year is “better together.”
When the project was beginning to be set up, LECHS went to the THJ and MSE administration and asked if there was anything needed to be done, Windham said.
“We feel our district is better together,” Windham said. “Our campuses are better when we have some sort of common thread.”
