By: Gail E. Kirkland
Oh, the places you’ll go! Dr. Seuss got that right. Students from Estes Elementary are going places, places that they had no idea even existed, places where they might find the inspiration to work one day.
Having applied and received his first-ever iGrant from the Owensboro Board of Education, Jeff Sorce, a 4th grade teacher at Estes, is responsible for taking his students places by taking advantage of the grant awarded to create new college and career-ready programs. The idea was an outgrowth of Jeff’s participation in Emerge Owensboro last school year. “That program features Human Needs Day, Safety Day, Public Health Day . . . you go to all of those areas and you learn about it and figure out how the next leaders of Owensboro are going to fix all the challenges,” Jeff said. “So I took that idea and said instead of how you would fix it, let’s expose those areas to the kids so they can see what it’s like to go to the hospital, see what it’s like to go downtown . . . get them interested in life. The goal of this was to expose them to these areas and see how cool it can be to go to jobs and to find a career.” The name of the project is Engaging Students to Emerge Successful—ESTES Leaders.
The project began with a pre-test to determine the 4th graders’ awareness of career choices and what preparation it takes to land a job. Jeff quickly realized how little they understood about the world by their limited responses. He hopes that the students’ awareness of, and interest in, various career paths will increase exponentially. The 24 selected participants—eight from each of the three 4th grade classes—will experience eight career areas: education, agriculture, public safety, media, science, tourism, trades and health. These “trip days” are spaced out over an 8-month span. In each area, at least one community partnership has been forged and they take ownership of that respective day.
On Health Day, for example, the students will be at the hospital all day. “The hospital completely takes over, and they are going to give them all kinds of hands-on experiences. They are going into an OR; they are getting dressed up in scrubs; they are getting a catered lunch,” Jeff said. Steve Johnson, vice president of government and community affairs for Owensboro Health, fully embraces the ESTES project. His vision for the project is “to convey to the students that healthcare represents a tremendous opportunity for them as a career path. While many think of healthcare as doctors and nurses, the reality is that the variety of career paths includes facilities, security, information technology, administration, physician recruitment, landscaping, etc.,” Steve said. “To put together a day like this takes a lot of great people. Our team at Owensboro Health working on this project has the same shared desire to show these kids what we do, and that they can be a part of what we do.”
On the Tourism Day, hosted by CVB, after viewing a video about Owensboro and receiving a goodie bag and breakfast, the students experienced the Bluegrass Museum, RiverPark Center, Smothers Park, Colby’s, Hampton Inn and the Convention Center. “Their minds were blown. They didn’t even understand. They were like, ‘What’s a Convention Center’?” Jeff said. As a follow up, the students record and photograph the experience on iPads and then create a PBL (Problem Based Learning) project, which is shared with the other eighty 4th grade students who did not attend. In a sense, they are paying it forward with their peers. “Hopefully, it (the project) will touch all of them,” Jeff said. In addition, he plans to host a Career Day with information booths for the rest of the school, and the hospital has stepped forward to offer help with that event.
After their day downtown, students were asked what career path the various jobs at the RiverPark entail, adding to their understanding of the connection between a job’s pay scale and the degree required: a high school diploma, associate’s degree or master’s degree. This exercise is critical to their overall experience, because their comprehension of employment and education opportunities is limited.
The statistical dynamic of families at Estes in relation to education is staggering. Of the 387 parents who responded to a survey put out by the school in 2013,, 17 percent graduated high school; .09 percent earned a GED; .05 percent finished some high school; .01 percent (6) had some college.
“Now they (the students) have identified all these industry areas with clear paths of how to start in 4th grade with being successful in school, where they need to go to college, what programs they need to get into to get jobs,” Jeff said.
The $10,000 innovation grant from the Owensboro Board of Education runs two years; it purchased 24 iPads and covers transportation costs. Each partnership (hospital, CVB, Cecil Farms, etc.) has agreed to take the project forward once the grant has expired and cover the major costs for transportation.
Jeff is the primary person responsible for coordinating and planning each of the trip days. While he is out of the classroom, the remainder of his class is divided between the other two 4th grade teachers, so substitute teachers are not needed. Estes’ teachers collaborate to ensure that no new material is introduced while the 24 students are gone from the classroom; those days are used as intervention days, giving reinforcement and help in areas already covered. Parents are invited and welcome to join their students for the community trip days.
And, oh, the places they have gone. “What I had hoped to get out of the project, I already got just after that first day, when I saw the kids’ faces. You feel like you have changed their lives; that’s what you always want to do . . . They are just blown away and so excited about going back to school, wanting to try hard . . . They just had no idea. Maybe they would have gotten the idea later, but if they can start with the idea now instead of at the end . . .” Jeff said with more than a small measure of emotion.