Ms. Sarah Leadbetter’s senior English classes are doing a Project Based Learning assignment (PBL) on issues they find within the school. The students participating in this project are presenting their results to our schools administration about different ways to fix these issues and problem solving solutions. The overall goal of this project is to help our school as a whole and make students feel heard. 

“For the most part, the PBL is going well. Some students have said that they prefer just getting an assignment and completing it rather than going through the process of problem-solving [and] finding solutions that higher-level thinking involves, but I do see a higher level of student engagement because they are pretty serious about making some kind of positive change here at school,” said Leadbetter.

Students have gone all throughout the school with different surveys hearing different students opinions on problematic situations all throughout the highschool. Students have gone and gotten in person interviews with admin and teachers, they have printed out surveys and taken them all around the school, and many different google forms have been sent to all of the different classes within the highschool to hear as many opinions as possible.

Senior Anna Tucker comments on her group’s project progress.

 “My group walked around the school with our survey about illegal drugs’ impact on the school and asked people to answer it. It was a fun experience going face to face with people to hear what they have to say. The group’s proposal was to get better rehab sources for students,” said Tucker 

Senior Andrew Brannon said,  “We might have a voice but I have no idea on whether the admin will actually listen to us but I hope for the future of the school environment and hope we can improve it everyday,” said Brannon. 

A majority of the projects will be presented to administration on Tuesday, March 28. 

“Without a doubt, my favorite part is any teachable moment that pops up along the way. I especially liked the opportunity to have students consider perception & perspective while reading other students’ survey comments. I also love that students can’t just complain about school issues but have to come up with solutions,” said Leadbetter. 

Additional hope for this project is for changes to the school handbook such as the dress code or helping administration with the phone policy and making the school a better learning environment but still enjoyable for students.