Carson City's Pioneer High School students accept Challenge Day with Project Discovery
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Mon, 11/18/2019 - 9:52am
Late last month, Pioneer High School literally sailed student learning outside of the classroom into the Carson City Community Center pool at their first all-school Challenge Day event with Reno-based Project Discovery.
“We work hard to make learning relevant, engaging and even fun for our students — all with a goal to nurture knowledge, critical thinking and problem solving skills,” explained PHS Counselor and Project Coordinator Cary Jordan. “This event allowed us to try something new and out of the box — and boy did some of us get wet! And we always appreciate the chance to partner with Mike Selby and his Project Discovery staff who are dedicated to dynamic learning opportunities that help students develop life skills in leadership, problem solving, initiative and self-reliance, communication and team building.”
That chilly Halloween morning PHS students headed to the Carson City Community Center gym where students were grouped in nine advisory teams. After completing the warmup activities, intended to help students become more aware of the tools necessary to be successful, the teams were given a final task to build a boat using a tarp, PVC pipe and fittings and duct tape to transport two people across a pool.
Junior Angelina Amaya, a PHS student for only a few weeks, said she liked the event because it was so unique and it gave her the opportunity to interact and work with new people that she most likely would not have during regular school.
Junior Keith Price agreed. “I had fun, but realized the focus was on the life skills and tools we were learning that would come in handy in future situations.”
For an hour and a half students feverishly brainstormed, experimented, engineered and constructed their crafts before finally putting them to the test in the open waters of the Carson City Aquatics Facility.
Did some boats sink you ask? Like a stone. But all the students were nevertheless proud of what they had built together, and it was PHS Advisory and Project Lead The Way Beginning Engineering class teacher Kristen Steinkraus who helped lead her team to victory with a classic V shaped boat.
After the waters were cleared, the students returned to the PHS campus for a final debrief and appreciation circle. During the debrief sessions students reflected on the skills they used throughout the day to be successful. The day ended with the students in an appreciation circle giving encouragement and compliments to their team members.
Senior Lyndi Day said she enjoyed Challenge Day. “It was thoughtful of Pioneer to put together the all-school event on Halloween,” she said. “It gave the students a fun bonding experience with fellow students and the teachers. The activities we did were challenging, and helped me see that patience and understanding of other people combined with effort and creativity can help me succeed.”
Advisory and math teacher Julie Gingrich affirmed that the event helped her build rapport with her students and reinforced the idea of enhancing learning through collaboration. “During the first couple of activities, my students were hesitant to trust each other,” she noted. “But as they progressed through the activities they began to work well as a group to accomplish their tasks. I noticed that during the appreciation circle, students were giving positive comments to other students they usually wouldn’t talk to.”
That’s a win for everyone.
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