The ABCs of H2O for YS high school, McKinney students

Iyabo Eguaroje’s sixth period biology class has created mini-environments in a project that anticipates the water immersion unit. Front row, from left: Cody Toadvine, Devonne Freeman, Marcus Norvell, Quinthony Freeman, and Matt Trimboli. Back row: Matt Rowe, Brodie Dryden, and John Reimers.

By Virgil Hervey

Since its conception last spring, the water immersion unit at YSHS/McKinney has been rolling like a river toward its Jan. 7 start-up. The new program, the brain child of local teachers, is a grade 7 to 12 “interdisciplinary study of water from the global to local arenas,” according to the program’s creators. During an intense two-week period, students will use skills from all curricular areas to create meaningful solutions to real world problems, covering issues as water rights, water conservation, and water supply on political, environmental, and socioeconomic fronts

“It is rare for a high school to deal with such topical material,” English teacher Elizabeth Lutz-Hackett said in a recent interview. Doing so is important, she said, because, “Not all high school students understand the importance of water in their lives.”

Recently the Yellow Springs schools received a grant of $3,000 from the Yellow Springs Community Foundation and six grants totaling $2,730 from the Yellow Springs Endowment for Education to help fund the program. Another grant application for $3,000 to the YSI Foundation is still pending.

“We recognize that education is not just for the acquisition of skills, but to create responsible citizens in their community, nation, and world,” the teachers wrote in their grant applications.

According to Lutz-Hackett, teachers came up with the idea when they were looking for something to fill the last two weeks of the second quarter of the school year. Traditionally, final exams for the grading period are given before the winter break, but the third quarter does not actually start for another two weeks after the kids return. So last spring she thought of using the left-over time for immersion in interdisciplinary study. It was McKinney language arts teacher Aurelia Blake who proposed this year’s focus on water, she said.

Assistant Principal Vickie Hitchcock calls the new program an experiment.

“Maybe this will lead to us using a similar unit for a longer period of time,” she said.

Most students first began to get involved in the water immersion project early in November through dialogue in class, public address announcements, and signs on the hallway walls. In U.S. history and English classes they went over the intensives that are being offered and discussed what they will be doing in class. On Nov. 20, they were required to choose an intensive program from a list of 16. Each intensive group will include 17–20 students with a mix of grades from 7 through 12.

As a way to gauge what worked and what did not, students will be assessed both before and after the program to determine how their awareness and knowledge of the topic improved. At the close of the unit, students will evaluate themselves and their peers, as well as the unit itself and the process.

“We don’t want this to be grade driven. We want it to be interest driven,” Hitchcock said. “We are going outside the traditional box. I hope the kids will have an open mind about this. This is learning for learning’s sake. There is no fear of failure. We are doing it because we love it.”

Last Thursday, the water immersion committee of Hitchcock, Lutz-Hackett, and teachers Aurelia Blake, John Day, Iyabo Eguaroje and Sara Lowe made their second trip to Antioch University McGregor for a retreat, where they decided which students will get to be in what intensive. They also went over the budget, considering funding for each of the intensives, and what they might be asking from the community. For instance, Lutz-Hackett plans to do an altered book art project and will be asking the community to donate old hard-bound books.

“This also gives the teachers a chance to step out and team with other teachers they wouldn’t normally work with,” she said. “The teachers have been excited about this since last spring. The teachers’ excitement is feeding off each other.”

In the fall, teachers toured the facilities at McGregor with an eye toward holding the closing event called a “Water Gala,” where the students will have an opportunity to show off what they learned. They also looked at potential gallery space and talked to McGregor professors about what they were doing.

“We are building a bridge with McGregor,” said Lutz-Hackett, who is also an assistant professor at McGregor.

The Water Gala, which will be held on Jan. 30, will include musical concerts, poetry, dance, a mock trial, documentaries, photography exhibits, a water mural in the vestibule, a “quiz bowl for community members,” and a Go Greene campaign. There will also be an opportunity for the community to evaluate the program.

It is expected that community volunteers will also play an important role in the intensives and also for some of the classroom work. Some have already served on the Water Gala committee.

“This is teacher-driven, rather than administration-driven,” Hitchcock said. “It is great that the administration and Principal John Gudgel are letting us do this.”

The choices for intensive study are as follows: Water and Disease — studied globally and locally; Flow — Water Poetry in Spanish & English; Webpage Design — documenting the project through the world wide web; Law and Water — research and a trial simulation; Go Greene, Yellow Springs — discovery of our community’s connections to water; Caving and Water — how water pollution can hurt much more than you can see; Podcasting 101 — exploring the theme of water and creating a podcast; Water in Africa/Global Water Issue Quiz Bowl -— designing and creating a quiz bowl game to be played at the Water Gala; War and Water — how history has developed and turns on water; Ohio Wetlands — what they are and where they are in Ohio; Think Outside the Bottle — challenging corporate control of water; Dance and Water — choreographing and performing a celebration of water; Exploring Water Through Language and Media Arts — tapping into the power of still and moving images; Water Mural — creating an original mural that explores water as a creative inspiration; Birch Creek and Music — combining local water history with making music; Jacoby Watershed, Stream Team — an exploration of where the water we use every day comes from and where it goes.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com