A visit to Upper Adams

Earlier this month, I had a chance to visit Upper Adams School District.  My tour guide was Superintendent Wesley Doll.  This was a great experience just walking the halls and seeing his interactions with staff and students.  One goal of the district is to provide students with unique experiences.  I found this to be the case as I toured.  The school district is working with the PSU Fruit Research Center for students to have mentorships.  We stopped in the Ag shop to talk with two students who had just returned from a very successful FFA competition.  The students were explaining how they had to solve a problem involving trusses and supports.  This was a great explanation by the students who described two different methods of solution - one using technology and one using paper and pencil.  When their solutions matched, they were confident in the results and they won this part of the competition.  They are now working on restoring a tractor shown below.

Students have just about completed the work.  This type of authentic hands on work is very impressive.  Walking into the Tech Ed room saw a lot of student projects involving aerodynamics, robotics, multimedia and modeling.  They are doing work with TSA as well.  

  We then walked down to the library and saw the Help Desk team meeting.  This group of students was working with an Apple rep as they prepare to provide support to both students and staff.  The team took a field trip to learn about customer service.  I love this!!!!  Being able to provide support goes beyond the nuts and bolts of how the technology works.  Delivery and how you approach your work and "customer" are equally, if not more, important.  

  We walked into a classroom and I am struck by how different the rooms look.  This science room had comfy chairs!  

Students are working on brochures for the local state park that does not currently have any.  Again authentic work.  Overall, I was really impressed with the work I saw happening at Upper Adams!  Kudos to the Staff and Students.