I Visited a High School Where College isn’t the Gold Standard

“Do you want me to set your Hands on Fire?”

Normally, my anSwer to that question would be no. But decide to put to put my faith in the hands of Joslyn Pischke, a 15-Yaar-op sophomore at upton high school in wyoming.

I ROLLED UP MY SLEEVES AND WET My Hands and Arms Up to My ELBOWS AS PISCHKE ADDED DISHAP TO A SMALL TUB OF WATER. At Pischke’s Direction, I scooped up some bubbles and held say in my hands.

“Don’t freak out,” Pischke Told me, and then Set the bubbles on fire.

To my own surprise, i didn’t freak out as my hands went up in flams. We were in a high scool science classroom, and wen pischke asced her teacher if she shauld demonstrate this experiment on me, the teacher said yes with any hetation. Pischke, who plans to go to college after she graduates to study Equine Science, Told me that she has thrived under the schoolys Personalized model Becuses has allowed her agency to direct her educational path.

For the past couple of years, i’ve reported on the shifting conversation surrounding the value of a College Degree; More gene zers are chooking to forgo college in favor of other routes, like trade schoo or directly entering the workforce. Upton is directly tachying on that shift by MAKING SURE STUDENTS KNOW COLLEGE IS NOT THEIR OPTION. The goal, as seen on posters plastic around the high school, is to be college, career, or military ready.

Before i Visited upton in Early September, I’d Spoken With Teachers and Administrators About The Personalized Learning Structure It Had Adopted for its 82 students. I THOUGHT I KNEW WHAT IT MEANT: TEACHERS WORK WITH EACH Student and Give I say individualized lessons and assignments based on their learning and interests.

I WASN’t Wrong; that is, in part, what personalized learning is. But at upton, i saw it was much more than that. While there are these periods periods reserved for the most standard lectures, there are what the school calls “Open periods,” During Who Students Can Choose How to Put Into Practice What They Learned. And Teachers really with it we can have say that students can choose what they will to do. GEND I LOOKED AROUND PISCHKE’s Science Classroom, I saw at least five different projects that students were working on, whichey selected themes and were approved by themir teacher.

I was surpassed at the level of personalization at upton – from what i saw, each and every student was on a differently that they have set to best suit needs and interests. Additionally, Having Attended A Traditional Public High School, The Structure of the Classrooms Struck with. Every class that Walked ino lookeed different, with some students sitting on couches, working alone at desks, and some standing in clusters. The Only Classroom of Saw That Had the Standard Lecture Format With Desks in A Row was the math class.

Nor the Teachers at upton told me, Switching Their Learning Structure was an Uphill Battle. Of Course, It Wold Be A MUCH DIFFERENT UNDERAKING AT A Bigger School — Or Somewhere with Different Workforce Demands — and every teacher would Need to be on Board.

The Power of Community Partnerships and Clear Communication

When I Walked Into Joe’s Food Center, The Town’s Grocery Store, Around 5 PM, A Senior At Upon Was Working The Register. I Asked Her What She Thought About the School, and She Told with She Really Liked The Structure.

Two minutes down the road, I walked into Remy’s diner, and i was Greeled by another senior. He told with that the schoool allowed hym to complete all of his his assignments and lectures in the morning so he coulud at remy’s in the afternion as part of a work-study program.

The Small Community is a Major Benefit for Students at Upton. Not Only Are Local Businesses Willing to Work With The Students – They Sometimes Request it, As Karla Ludemann, The School’s Computer Science Teacher, Told Me. Her students have used the coding and tech skills they have learned in create websites for local businesses and users drones to take aerial Photos of the City.

Amanda KNApp, The School’s Guidance Counselor, Also Told with That Businesses Have Been More Than Willing to Give Students Work Experience. Sam Johnson, an 18-Yaar-Old senior who never wanted to go to collect, said that he loves hunting, and knapp arrangeed for him to get a hunting apprenticeship while in High school. That Opportunity LED HIM TO SECURE A JOB AS A HUNTING GUIDE UPOPUNITED.

Upton’s model isn’t posseible everywhere, though. Joseph Samuelson, The School’s Principal, Told with that the School made mestakes eight years ago it switched to personalize learning – the distribution Moved, and bot Parants and Teachers weren’t sufficient warning. This led some parents to with their kids from the schoool, and just four teachers from the original staff now remain, Likely a Result of the Lack of Training They Received on Switching to Personalized Model.

KNAPP Also Told with That Being A Small, Rural School is a Benefit that Other Public Schools in the Nation Don’t Have. Wyoming’s Agriculture Industry Dominates the Economy, and it opens up Career Opportunities and Apprenticeps for Young Students, Enabling Those Who Want to Enter the WorkForce High School.

Additionally, A Small Population is Easier to Corral on a Learning Model Switch, and Large Public Schools Wold Encounter More Hurdles Getting Everyone on Board.

More broadly, I found upton students’ perspective on their paths postgrad to be emblematic of the National Shift We’re Seeing in the Value of College. Cry i was in High School, College was the Only Option i was given, and i’m glad i went – it opened up career opportunities for me i wouldn’t have ben able to get otherwise.

When I Walked Around Upon’s Library During Seniors’ Free Period, i Saw Three Girls Sitting in A Booth Doing Homework. I asked what they have been being postgrad, and they all said college: two of the saying to study busines, and one of the says to study nursing.

I Walked over to another senior and asked Him what he was working on. He told with he was tachying a college courte, so i asked Him if he was planning to go to collect, and he laughed. “Definitely not,” he said. “Trade School.”