Updates in Kenowa Hills Find out what’s new in Kenowa Hills! by Adalynn Gracia Kenowa Hills has a lot of updates and I’m here to tell you why. Well, first some of the new updates include new connect classes, new passing times, and new advisory changes. The new connect class helps students catch up on missing work if they have any, help’s students set goals for themselves, and while in Connect class they talk a lot about metacognition which means thinking about your thinking. Some kids think it’s useless and we don’t need, other kids really like the new changes. Another change is passing times which most students are not happy with. The passing times went from 5 minutes to 4 minutes. 5 minutes was barely enough time to get from class to class not to mention that we may have to use the bathroom or fill up our water bottles, also what if we just came back from gym meaning that we don’t really have enough time to do everything. Now you can see why students do not like new passing times. You could ask the teacher if you can go but you risk them saying that you’re gonna be tardy if you go. Also while in class the teacher might not even let students use the bathroom. So some students can’t go fill up their water bottle or use the bathroom or go to the tech center if they need to, among a number of other things that students couldn’t do before with the 5 minute passing times but know with the 4 minute passing times students can barely get to class on time. Also whenever a student is late they get a tardy and with 3 tardy’s you can get a detention. Another change is advisory times which were confusing at first for the students but eventually, they got used to it. The advisory times used to be at the end of the day but know there in between 4rth hour and 5th. It took a while to get used to the new advisory times as a student here. In the first couple of weeks, I felt that I needed to go to my 5th hour but I needed to go to advisory instead. Another change is class times and when school ends, for class times it used to all end at a perfect time but in order to fit in more elective courses and the new connect class everything got messed up. Also, they decided to change 6th graders’ schedules in order to prepare them for the rest of middle school. Instead of the normal schedule which normally has most of the same teachers now 6th graders mostly have different teachers. Mrs.Wiseman the principal of Kenowa hills Middle School says “We worked with students staff and community to develop a schedule that supports outside personal mastery” Most students don’t really mind the new schedule it’s just that sometimes change is a lot to take in and get used to. Others just personally don’t like the new schedule. In the making of the schedule, they added teachers’ opinions, company design thinking and after that, they added feedback from students who were graduating. This whole thing was a 2-year process which took a lot of thinking. In order to make sure the formula for the schedule was great they had to add 2 minutes to the end of the day. So instead of it being 2:40, it’s now 2:42.
Why do teachers get a pop machine and unhealthy food and we don’t? By Maya Hanes
Inside of the forbidden temple of the teacher’s lounge is a like-new Coke machine and a table of unhealthy food all for $1.25. We may get a snack bar, but us students do not get cheap snacks and drinks whenever we want. So why can’t us student’s use it? Why can teachers? Mr. Koch says it “is to make money” and “they are for teacher use”. But if it is for money, why don’t we get the use of it? Also, how did they even get the giant coke machine in there? Mr. Koch states “it took some time, but they hauled it in with a dolly.” So if “they” could easily put it in that narrow hallway why can’t they put it in the lunchroom or something?
KHHS Offers Pathways Program to Students in Need After Almost 9 Years of Alternative Learning Environments, The Secret of Pathways Success is Finally Out
by Rhiannon McGahan Since 2011, Kenowa Hills has offered a program called Pathways. By definition, Pathways is an alternative way to approach a student’s learning. It’s a blended learning environment that consists of online classes in the downstairs department of KHMS. Many people think that “bad kids” are the ones who get put into Pathways. That is most definitely not the case. 99% of the time students who are a part of the Pathways program don’t benefit from the traditional school environment. For example, a student part of Pathways may have a job with no flexible hours. It’s a school's duty to make sure all students have equal and fair opportunities during their high school career. What makes Pathways different from a regular school environment is its flexibility, mature environment, and element of freedom. There are no specific class times in Pathways, mainly because of the online schooling, but also because many students work at very different paces, something regular schooling doesn’t offer. Pathways also only requires students to go to school for 15 hours per week. Of course, if a student frequently misses a majority of the required time, Truancy will be called, like regular schooling. A question that wanders many minds is why Pathways is here and not at the highschool. Well, once the idea of Pathways was put into place, the highschool had no extra room for that kind of program. During that time, the Auto-shop elective choice had just been shut down, which was located in the very back of KHMS. It was decided that Pathways would be placed there. After consulting KISD and getting their permission and support, Pathways was put into effect. Pathway students and Middle School students have always been separated, but why? Abby Wiseman, the principle of KHMS, says that there’s a different atmosphere between the two. “There’s an element of innocence in the middle school that high schoolers don’t have,” she explains. On this circumstance, the context divers with emotional and physical complex between older and younger students. Pathways also has different rules that they abide by. For instance, Pathways allows its students to have their phones and headphones out. They also have more flexible and laid back classrooms. Having these rules apply to high schoolers in the middle schools would make a disruptive environment because of the younger students if they were kept together. Pathways started no more than 8 years ago. The director of Pathways, Jared Herron, says that, “It was always a passion and dream of mine for the ability to work with students.” He believes Pathways was the right program for him. He says it’s very busy directing Pathways. He is responsible for what the students and teachers are doing. Mr. Herron makes sure what needs to be done is done. I asked him what he would like to do for Pathways in the future. He responded with, “I would like to create some more hands-on learning experience for them.” He also talks about what it would be like if Pathways was never assembled. “If there was no Pathways program, many of our students would still be falling drastically behind. We’ve improved so much.” The Pathways program here at Kenowa Hills has impacted many of students. Just as things for the program are turning up, the school may be adding 8th grade students into the program sometime in the near future. Pathways isn’t a punishment for bad kids, it’s a reward for students who work differently than ourselves.
What is the secret behind the Pathways The pathways program is something the principle told us not to go near By Linkin Applebee In Kenowa Hills Middle School, students are not allowed in the pathways. The pathways are the parts of the school where the Woodshop, the S.T.E.M. class, and many more are located. Most people would like to go to the pathways but students are not allowed to. From rumors, the pathways were free-range until somebody ruined. who? nobody knows. The person that did it is still a secret. The pathways have been in this school since it was built. Nobody knows if it was really free-range, but the first people at this school could be our parents. The students are too scared to ask the principle why the pathways are off-limits. The students that go in the pathways never say what’s in them to the others that want to know. Students try to sneak in but never succeed in getting far.