Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2007, Page 55

Description:	Life Ln the Real WorldoosierHills>-gStory by Alexander AudretschInstead of sitting around in a classroom, students attendinghoosier hills worked in a hands-on program in which they got toperform real jobs for paying customers. There were 26 differentclasses offered, including welding, construction, and auto repair.There were around 10 people in each class, so teachers had one-on-one time with their students. Students took to their projectswith enthusiasm. Ive done all sorts of different projects, andthey were all pretty fun, said Senior Joshua Webster, who tookwelding his junior and senior years.Some classes took much longer to complete their projects. Theclass, building trades, revolved around only one project: buildinga house. The house, once finished, was sold to an elderly couplewho had lost their home. Building it provided students a way tolearn all aspects of building houses hands-on. Independence wasone of the main values emphasized by the class, and the fact wasnot lost on the students. Weve done an entire house ourselves,without any help from paid workers, said junior Tyler Deckard.Junior Jeremv Dine worked in the auto bodv class. The classjumped right into repairing the exterior of cars. This includedpopping out dents, replacing broken windows, doors, and lights,and giving cars new paint jobs. We get all sorts of cars, saidDine.Hoosier Hills was vital for helping students who want todo something coming out of high school or a two-year collegeachieve their goal. It helped some of the people who didntlike traditional school do jobs they liked while still learning. Ittaught responsibility, with real projects and real consequences ifsomething went wrong.Junior Bart Buttry talkedabout building a house.I think itd be better to [learn] at the jobsite than at school.Senior Amanda Ray talkedabout the nursing program atHoosier Hills.We do job shadowing and internships [atHoosier Hillsl.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/7579
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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