BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer

Clarkston Junior High students put their learning on display for the community at the school’s Second Annual Student Learning Showcase.
“What we’ve tried to do is create an opportunity for students to show their learning to people outside of the classroom,” Principal Adam Kern said.
In the cafeteria, there were several different projects set up: science and English displays, giant instruments students had crafted, and even a small coffee bar area in one corner for relaxing and music.
The school’s main hallway had artwork up, some classes had display tables in the hallways, others were showcasing student work inside their rooms.
“It’s all random as to what the teachers want to do and that’s fine. I want the teachers to have some ownership of it and what works best for their class and how that looks for their classroom,” Kern said. “All over the place, everything’s happening. Gym teachers are doing something, health teachers, industrial arts teachers, science, math, ELA, world language, everybody’s doing something to display their student work.”
One student in the cafeteria, Evan Gibeau, was showing off some reptiles and amphibians he had caught. He had snakes, frogs and a large snapping turtle. He said he catches all the creatures and plans to let them loose.
Gibeau’s grandfather said he is a “walking encyclopedia” of amphibians and reptiles; he has two leopard geckos as pets. Another group of students in the cafeteria did a project on different mental illnesses including depression, bipolar disorder, Asperger’s, schizophrenia and anorexia.
“We took the phrase ‘umbrella term’ a little too literally,” student Aryana Barnes said, referring to the strung-up umbrella with dangling information on mental illness hanging from the ceiling.
Barnes completed the visual representation project with peers Rebecca Winkler and Patrick Dobies. Each read a firsthand narrative book about the mental illness they were researching.
Student projects were also inside the classrooms. English Language Arts teacher Rob Albee showcased his students’ holocaust displays, which were made based on non-fiction books they read about the tragedy.
“There are so many curricular and cultural tie-in’s, this project was an obvious choice for my class,” Albee said. He also encouraged his class to bring in food dishes to sample from any culture or country that was part of the holocaust. Mark Magni had his history students’ World War II work displayed throughout his room. He also teaches drama and guests could watch his drama students’ demo reels on laptops.
“So many times, their learning is only for those who are in the classroom with them, or maybe their own parents if they take their project home or talk to their parents about it,” Kern said. “So, what we wanted to be able to do is not only for them to bring their own parents in, but for other parents, other students to be able to see the really interesting, exciting things that are going on all over the school.”