With school nearing the end, students from Higgins Middle School spoke at the School Committee meeting, discussing the programs they had during the year.
Superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala explained how the school got involved with WPS Institute, a philanthropic group with an aim to increase student engagement and connectedness with middle schoolers.
“They were working on a pilot in Salem, and we were able to bring a group of teachers and administrators over to observe what they were doing in Salem, and they asked if we wanted to participate with their group and provide some professional development,” he said.
The entire sixth grade class got to participate, taking part in Try It Day and a passion project.
“It’s really been a pleasure to get to know your community of Peabody in general this year. … As Dr. Vadala said the group that came to see the work we’ve been leading in Salem for the past three years I think was really inspired by a model that has connected learning to students own interests, to the community, to the careers, to real world learning experiences,” WPS Institute Executive Director Laura Tavares said.
She said there was a vision to create community through authentic learning experiences.
“I got brought on when I started at the Higgins this year. … We had one representative from each cluster come out, and we were actually able to go to a school in Newton and spend the entire day there. … It was very authentic learning,” sixth grade Associate Principal Justin Throwe said.
He said it has been great to bring these types of programs to Higgins.
Students came up to the microphone to speak about their experiences.
One student said, “My favorite thing was Try It Day because I got to experience a lot of different things, but my favorite was probably cosmetology because I love to do hair and stuff.”
Another student said they loved the passion project because students got to do research and make an example. “That really helped us get a feel for what it’s like, and we also got to learn more detailed stuff about the background of all the things we chose to learn about,” she said.
One student talked about the different jobs they got to learn about.
“They told us what it would be like if we were to choose that profession for our future job when we sixth graders are adults. We learned what types of classes they had to study and what their job responsibilities are,” she said.
She said after Try It Day, she would be adding real estate agent and superintendent to her list of dream jobs.
Another kid said his favorite part of the WPS experience was the passion project.
“It inspired me to do a lot more than just the base learning because before my dream job was just something basic like an accountant, but now I’m learning more, and I want to be more like an animator or a comic designer when I’m older,” he said.
Another student said it inspired him to write scripts for television shows.
“I’ve come to appreciate the form of TV shows in general and that they help us get into a world that we never experienced before,” he said.
He continued that he got a lot of ideas about what he wants to be when he grows up.
The School Committee told the students they did a great job speaking about the programs.
“This sounds incredible to be in sixth grade and to have the opportunity. … I know and I talk often about there (being) jobs that exist today that I didn’t know I could make a living in when I was in high school or even in college. It’s good that you guys are getting exposed to stuff like that,” member Jarrod Hochman said.
