Communities at Oshkosh North High School is a Project Based Learning environment that revolves around the community. We learn with the community, within the community, in order to make the community a better place. Our goal is to provide hands on and relevant learning opportunities for our students so they learn the content as well as 21st century skills.
My project is focused on the Oshkosh community, educating them about locally grown food by hosting a cooking competition and supporting the farm-to-school program. According to greensproduce.com, “foods that are purchased at a local farmers market spend less time being shipped and retain more nutritional value.” This helps illustrate the health benefit of locally grown foods and how eating local foods can improve your health. The Winnebago County 2014 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) showed that 10% of high school students did not eat any vegetables, other than potatoes, during the past seven days, compared to 6.6% nationally. Only 8.8% reported eating vegetables three or more times per day during the past seven days compared to 15.7% nationally. My project will create opportunities for the Oshkosh community to eat more local and healthier foods.
Although my project is only targeting the Oshkosh community it is a great way to spread awareness about the locally grown foods. As I said earlier, I am raising awareness by hosting a cooking competition. I think this will help raise awareness because students from all over the Oshkosh community will realize how delicious and healthy locally grown foods really are, and it will get people talking about not only my project, but the benefits of locally grown foods. My event will be taking place on Sunday, April 19th at Oshkosh North High School and will open up to the Oshkosh community at 3:30. There will be 6 student teams, 3 from North and 3 from West. Each team will consist of 6-8 students per team along with a local chef, UWO alumni and also a UWO student.
COMMUNITIES 2 STUDENTS PRESENTED TO BY WISCONSIN STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER, WISCONSIN SENATOR
State Assembly Member Gordon Hintz, Senator Ron Johnson speak to students and answer questions regarding poverty in the US
OSHKOSH, Wis. (February 18, 2014) Students in the Communities 2 program had the opportunity to hear from and have their questions answered by two different government representatives; Wisconsin State Representative Gordon Hintz and US Senator Ron Johnson; as a part of their current project regarding poverty in the US. Representative Hintz and Senator Johnson spoke to students regarding the state of America’s economy, the heavily debated issue of poverty, and what the government’s role is in responding to the issue. Communities 2 students will use the valuable information provided by Representative Hintz and Senator Johnson, along with information from other sources, to compose a letter to a local representative or member of congress addressing the issue of poverty in their community.
Communities 2 is a school program at Oshkosh North High School that offers students a unique way to learn literacy, business, and social studies while covering all required district standards. The Communities program collaborates with businesses, organizations, and members of the community in an effort to provide an authentic learning experience while improving the community.
The holiday season is full of joy and anticipation for children all around the world. Children count down the days until Santa Claus visits their home dropping off toys and presents that they have been hoping for throughout the year. For most, Santa does show up on Christmas Eve, but for the less fortunate children in the world Santa somehow misses their homes.
My CEO was to help find the houses Santa might miss. The Oshkosh Police and Fire Departments partnered with the Salvation Army to collect gifts from generous community members for the less fortunate children in our community. The week before Christmas, throughout the neighborhoods of Oshkosh, there were sounds of Christmas music intertwined with sirens of an old fire truck. Traveling through the neighborhoods with the old fire truck were other emergency and service vehicles along with a Salvation Army truck loaded with donated canned goods and presents. Perched on the old fire truck was Santa Claus welcoming and greeting the people in the neighborhoods. Once people heard these sounds, they ran out of their homes to give canned goods and presents. The many volunteers, who were walking down the streets next to the trucks, greeted, thanked, and took the donations of the neighbors to the Salvation Army truck. On the Salvation Army truck, there were several volunteers organizing the presents and canned goods making sure the children’s Christmas lists would be fulfilled.
I felt an atmosphere full of joy and excitement and saw how this project impacted our community. I saw love and compassion in the firefighters’ and volunteers’ eyes. It amazed me how generous the people were who gave donations, and I saw that same love and compassion in their eyes, too. This project impacted everyone who was associated with it. Those who donated understood the true meaning of Christmas is giving and to appreciate what they have, and those who received felt the love of the season knowing that people actually do care. As a volunteer on this project, I was glad I could be one of Santa’s elves so that no houses would be missed on Christmas Eve.
-- Nick Bauer, Communities 2 Student
Photo includes Zac Hassman, Ben Leib, Santa Claus, and Nick Bauer
During our most recent unit we explored whether technology has been good for society. We had a number of experts come in to discuss the pros and cons of technology. Obviously technology has brought forth millions of innovations that have made our life better, but it was interesting to see some of the negatives that come with technology such as loss of local jobs, a decrease in person-person communication, and fewer people exercising as much as they should be.
At the end of the project we decided to focus on one particular benefit that technology provides: iPads for students with autism. Over the course of a week the Communities program at Oshkosh North High School brought in experts in the form of therapists, autism teachers, counselors, parents and siblings of children with autism, and others.
Our class learned a LOT about autism and how it affects people who have it. We learned a lot about what a spectrum disorder is and what the different levels of the spectrum mean. We also learned a lot about how technology, specifically iPads, could help children with autism to learn and live better lives. There are many apps that exist for children with autism to use that help with communication, expression, organization, learning to overcome stressful situations, and many more. After talking with the experts, and those who have lived with children with autism, it became clear that iPads could greatly improve the quality of life for those who received iPads.
For our project we partnered with our local Mid-Morning Kiwanis club. They were doing an "iPads for Autism" program and had already secured 10 iPads for students with autism. The problem, however, is that there were still 20 children still on the list. Many students and teachers agreed that we would love to have the ability to pull out the money and fund the purchase of these iPads, but this was obviously not possible. We decided, though, that we could make a difference and help out this cause.
The students planned a fundraiser in which they will run a raffle at the biggest varsity basketball game of the year: crosstown rivals, Oshkosh North vs. Oshkosh West. The students began brainstorming and filled the boards with excellent ideas. It was official. Our Communities students were bound to make a difference and help out this cause.
We recently wrapped up the prepare and plan phase and fulfilled some solid work days of the action phase.There were 13 different groups that all had different responsibilities ranging from advertising, contacting radio/television/newspaper, planning the raffle, calling local sponsors for donations towards the raffle, a t-shirt designing group, another group that reached out to partner with the other high school (Oshkosh West) in town to help out. The group chose the theme "Two Teams, One Community" because of the need for us to put our differences aside in trying to help our community.
This blog post is simply an update on one of the most magnificent projects I have seen. Students are extremely passionate, hardworking, eager to learn, and eager to make a positive impact in the world. This is ComPassion Based Learning, interdisciplinary, differentiated, Project Based Learning and education at their finest. This is all while inspiring students to be altruistic, learn 21st century skills, and learn about how to organize and execute events. The future is bright! These students are amazing!!!
This is a video that the students put together as an introduction for the "WHY" behind the cause. They have more specific ones created for local showing, some for in-game announcements, radio advertisements, etc...
Our staff has always believed that if you give students the opportunities, resources, and support to change the world, they will do amazing things. I have never felt more confident about that then I am right now!
Communities at Oshkosh North High School Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Please reply with any questions, thoughts, suggestions, opinions, or ways that you would like to get involved.
Every fall UWO, as well as other team sponsors, put on the annual Dragonboat Festival in Oshkosh Wisconsin. The history of the dragonboats date back approximately 2,400 years ago to Chinese culture. On the contrary, the UWO’s Dragonboat Festival was only founded 7 years ago, in 2006. The purpose behind the festival was to have a community event that would benefit the community as well as the UWO campus. But something interesting happens with the proceeds behind this event. The proceeds are split between a UWO scholarship as well as donations to the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign, all working towards a better community.
Taking part in such an event is not only benefiting our community, but it is also building team skills and gives us a sense of belonging at such a wonderful event. The “village” for the Dragonboat Festival is held at the Leach Amphitheater which is molded by many blue tents, each home to a dragonboat team. I felt as if we were a community inside of a community, our own little town inside of the city of Oshkosh. Smiles were abroad whether you knew others or not. Teams felt encouraged to cheer others on, socialize, and turn an ordinary Saturday into something special. Living in Oshkosh for the latter half of my life, I never knew such an event existed! When present at this festival, I saw a side of Oshkosh, previously unknown, that made me appreciate my community. I saw many participants in a central area cheering each other on, smiling, laughing, and enjoying each others company.
Whether it was volleyball, bean bag toss, or the dragonboat races itself, there was a feeling of openness and unity, even with competition present. Those who I didn’t even know invited parts of my team to play volleyball for a friendly game. Other teams cheered us on as we went out to our boats and inflicted a sense of pride among us in which we passed on to others. Strangers in my community suddenly became a friendly face, changing my outlook on Oshkosh as a community. Instead of just a city full of nice people, we can rally together and make a huge impact on others.
The Dragonboat Festival is something I was proud to be a part of. It brings our community together while benefiting others, what could be better? For now, we will “hold the boat” as we wait for next years festival where we will put our “paddles up” and, once again, take part in such an amazing event..
The end of the year has come. Communities at Oshkosh North is wrapping up the year by spending the last day of Communities thanking the partners at breakfast this morning. Also, having a Communities Olympics. The ultimate advisory challenge. As the great Mr. Weber said today, " Temporary inconvenience, permanent improvement. This has been a very successful year for Communities from the beginning to end. Thank you to all of our partners and our wonderful staff. Also, thanks to everyone who supported us through out the year. And a big thanks to our students who made this vision a reality.
Today the students finished up the final Communities Chats. Also, Ryne Mosher, Zac Hassman and his brother Josh Hassman were interviewed by Mr. Dumke from Badger Sportsman to pick the winner to be published. And Zac Hassman defeated his brother and Ryne Mosher for the oppurtunity to be published. Also the Communities Chats are completed. They were all fantastic and gave a great review of the year from the kids point of view. Tomorrow Communities will be having a partner breakfast to thank the partners.
