KUSA — The last week of school is typically pretty laid back. There's usually not a lot of learning involved.
But that's not what the plan is for High Point Academy in Aurora. There’s one word that comes to mind before all the pomp and circumstance begins.
“Our preschoolers are anticipating kindergarten,” said High Point Academy Executive Director, Keri Melmed, “(and) our 8th graders are anticipating high school.”
This last week of school, the K-8 charter school is thinking of a different word…one people probably wouldn’t expect.
“We have something called intensives,” Melmed said. “Kids get to choose one area to study and participate in intensely throughout the week.”
It’s a week-long program started last year to end the year, where students get to choose from 20 different subjects like photography, architecture and engineering.
“Kids are able to sign up for one of the intensives offered and get to spend the whole week studying that particular intensive,” Melmed said.
Subjects like “messy science” have fifth graders like Oheneba Osei-Fordwuo making play doh and learning important life lessons.
“Trying and trying again…making new things, (and) combining them,” Osei-Fordwuo said.
And for sixth grader Carson McDonald, using his hands-on skills to study computers and game design was something that caught his eye.
“I just love playing games, I’ve never experienced what a computer looks like on the inside,” Carson said. “I would rather do this instead of watch a movie and doing a couple of games on the last week of school.”
The students will be able to showcase their projects to parents and friends at the end of the week
and no money was used out of the school's budget. All the materials used for the program have been donated by teachers, students and families.
“When a teacher is passionate about what they are teaching, it trickles down to the kids and it builds so much excitement in the classroom,” Melmed said.
The charter school wants these students to come together as a community and start thinking about next year, with little anticipation.
“A lot of the students get a chance to work with teachers that they hadn’t normally worked with and so they look forward to maybe having that teacher next year,” Melmed said. “I love seeing the smiles on staff faces, and student faces the whole week… it’s a wonderful way to end the school year.”
