Seven Clarkston High School 2015 graduates shared what they learned about education and its impact on them as they head to college and their futures.
Sarah Fluegel, Makayla Tuomi, Courtney Hughes, Michael Abraham, Jack Witzke, Tyler Dunn, and Camron Razdar were asked by Arina Bokas, Clarkston PTA president, what type of educational experiences were meaningful and helped them learn the most.
During the interview, which was recorded for the Clarkston Community Schools? YouTube Channel, students agreed there are different ways of learning, and lessons combining subjects stood out for them.
In one class, students went outside and explored nature. The teacher related the outdoors to math and life sciences.
“All of that opened my mind to knowing there are different cross curricular ways of learning,” said Razdar, adding the most memorable lessons he learned in school related two subjects which were seemingly unrelatable.
Razdar added learning to relate subjects will help him think on his feet.
As a student, being placed a class outside his comfort helped him grow, Dunn said.
“In drama club I was forced to face my fears, being anxious in front of groups was something I often struggled with,” he said.
Abraham’s remembered an experience very vividly from second grade.
“Every week we took a class field trip somewhere like to museums. At first, I did not really get why we were learning something on Saturday, but that day I realized learning can be fun,” he said.
“That stuck out in my mind because I realized I like to learn and problem solve. I learned to actually enjoy my learning.”
Dunn said his greatest memory was from a higher coding mathematics class he took a few years ago.
“Mr. Gilmore was my teacher,” the graduate said.
“He really pushes you off the ledge and you really feel like you are failing, alone and you are teaching yourself. You almost feel like you are not in a supportive environment, but what you realize is Mr. Gilmore was there the entire time holding the rope that kept you from crashing down and dying.”
Gilmore allowed the students to learn on their own first.
“We were able to experience what it was like to teach ourselves,” Dunn said. “We learned what it was like to struggle through mathematics. It was better than most classes in which the teacher tells you this is how you do it and make you repeat it back verbatim.”
He added approaching it alone he felt students could approach with a more analytic and evaluative mind.
Hughes said she was part of the Clarkston Science Math Technology.
“One of our final exams, they made it not so multiple choice or short answer,” she said. “Instead, we went out into our woods and were given a map. We were learning trigonometry and geometry. I have never applied this kind of math in the real world unless it was using pen and paper so I thought it was amazing to be able to connect it to the outside world and use my skills to create a map and draw it in a mathematical way.”
Other students said that type of learning is what is happening in CCS in the Cultures of Thinking.
“I think that’s something Clarkston Schools is diving into,” said Fluegel.
“It’s becoming really influential to all of us. Teachers are becoming more aware we have to take what we are learning in the classroom and be able to apply it to out daily lives, to our future and to our subjects. I think our teachers are becoming more apt to say OK how does math apply to navigation, how can your speech class help you in drama club or how can science class relate to how your car works,” she said.
Using different applications to see how these things work together helps students learn and prosper, she said.
“It’s more than just take a test and get a grade,” she said.
Tuomi said CCS teachings has helped her discover herself.
“Often kids are so focused on wanting to be a physician or a engineer, or the paths laid in front of them all their lives. They don’t focus on what they want to be or what will make them happy,” she said.
Razdar said schools should focus more on academic ability rather than grade level.
“Some students just don’t have the mind frame to go into some advanced classes,” he said.
Different opportunities for kids to learn and explore things they are interested in would help, the students agreed.
Fluegel said the Oakland Technical Campus is a great example of allowing students to explore a field while gaining skills in a career field.
Learning to think on a broader scale helps too, said another student.
Tuomi believes the future of education should be about more than just taking some test and getting a score.
“It’s about seeing how things are connected,” she said.