Students catch glimpse of future

Sisters Middle School students recently took a three-day break from their normal school experiences to try new things and tap into new interests. With its new name Exploration Week, the winter/spring 2008 event was in some ways patterned after what previously has been known as Interim Week. In other ways it was very different.

"We changed the name only to drive the point home that we are exploring interests and aptitudes and how important this is for middle school students, especially now with the high school moving forward with the idea of academies and the need to have that personal education plan in ninth grade," said Sisters Middle School principal Kathy Miner.

In contrast to Interim Week, a little more is expected of the students during Exploration Week. Each student receives a grade that is incorporated into his or her homeroom participation grade.

If a student explores an activity during Exploration Week, he or she may decide to try it again at the high school level.

"If you try Nordic skiing during Exploration Week and you liked it, you might try being on the team (at high school)," said Miner. "You might sign up for the IEE (Interdisciplinary Environmental Expedition) program if you took Geocaching," said Miner.

Miner told The Nugget that Exploration Week also provides experiences to students who have never skied or hiked.

"Growing up in Central Oregon and never hiking, biking or skiing is something we don't think about, but we have kids who haven't done these things," said Miner.

Finally, Exploration Week is different from Interim Week because it has been made affordable to all students.

"We eliminated the fees, except for three large trips: the Shakespeare trip (to Ashland); the science overnight to the coast; and the Mt. Bachelor snow sports trip," said Miner.

The Sisters School Foundation provided the middle school with a grant in the amount of $1,800 to provide scholarships for these trips.

Other than the three trips, all other Exploration Week classes were not expensive to offer. "We already had the discs for Disc Golf. We had the geocaching units for Geocaching. We received some great donations for some of the jewelry making materials, and Black Butte Ranch let us borrow cross country skis. We were able to offer some great activities with little expense. We received a great response from the community," said Miner.