By AMY ADAMS
For The Reporter
On Friday, April 28, teachers at Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) High School didn’t have to stick to the curriculum. Instead, they got to offer sessions on topics they were passionate about, whether they fit into their normal classroom subject matter or not. In turn, students were able to sign up for sessions that interested them.
Language arts teacher Kelsey Habig described Choice Day as “a day designated for curiosity, camaraderie, and community – learning for the simple joy of learning.”
Earlier in the school year, HSE had piloted a Choice Day with freshmen and then sophomores during their Pathways period, an eighth period which allows time for academic support, club meetings, and employability skills.
Students work outside Kelsey Habig’s classroom installing a walkway to the buses. (Photo provided)
“Looking forward to April 28, we knew we needed a plan for that day because Fishers (High School) was holding a service day,” said Assistant Principal Stacey Brown. “We said, ‘Let’s try a school-wide Choice Day.’”
Administrators planned the day with the goals of building school culture and creating community and connection. They wanted to encourage students to explore new options and to meet new students and teachers.
“Sometimes people walk the same paths every day,” Brown said. “Choice Day provides an opportunity to forge new pathways.”
The only requirement for teachers as far as what classes they offered was that they had to reserve one period for academic support. Some teachers used the academic support period to give mock AP exams, others provided remediation which was required for certain students.
“Obviously academics are the priority, so we wanted to make sure we reserved time for that,” Brown said.
Factoring in work periods, teachers had five slots out of the seven-period day to cover whatever topics they chose.
“We threw out all the daily norms,” Habig said.
Around 150 staff members participated, with many of them offering more than one topic option throughout the day, so the approximately 3,400 students at HSE had plenty of choices. They were able to register through Enriching Students, a school-scheduling software tool that was already in place.
“The administration worked so hard on this, especially Stacey Brown who had to figure out and facilitate all the scheduling through our Enriching Students app,” said German teacher Nichole Mathews.
But the administration heard rumors that some students were planning to skip, especially with Choice Day being the day before prom. The school used their usual attendance method, and parents had to call in for their student to be excused.
“Some students had signed up for study halls all day, which I don’t know why anyone would want to do that,” Brown said. “They realized halfway through the day that there was some cool stuff going on and wanted to change their schedules.”
Veterans talk to students about military service. (Photo provided)
Food-related choices were popular, such as making pancakes, decorating cupcakes, and grilling basics. Sports and games also proved popular. Teachers taught seminars on how to research your family tree and how to buy a used car. One teacher even led a “dirt fishing” class, which is essentially metal detecting.
Habig reported that students chatted happily as they installed a sidewalk in the green space between her classroom and the buses.
Becky Schroeder, who teaches ENL, English as a New Language, said there were kids singing while they worked.
A few social studies teachers brought in veterans to speak. A realtor from Berkshire Hathaway came in to talk to interested students about careers in real estate. A representative also came in from Tom Wood Automotive.
Mathews invited local author Christopher Clouser to talk to students about creative writing. Clouser has 15 titles to his name. A few of those titles are sports-related non-fiction, and the rest are fantasy, mystery, and science fiction such as his latest title, Argent’s Menagerie. During two periods, he spoke to around 40 students.
“I talked about what I do as a writer and my process,” Clouser said. “I also went around the room and answered questions that students had about writing.”
Japanese Club president Rio Akachi demonstrates a traditional tea ceremony. (Photo provided)
As sponsor of the Japanese Club, Mathews also worked with club president Rio Akachi to perform a traditional tea ceremony for interested students during two of her other periods.
Honors Biology teacher Kacy Probst partnered with Fishers Fire Department’s Ashley Heckly to host CPR training to 45 students over the five available sessions. While the students were not able to earn their CPR certifications in one class period, they were able to learn a “friends and family” level of CPR that gives necessary information and skills to react in an emergency.
“I really enjoyed Choice Day,” Probst said. “It was fun to offer a skill to my students that I otherwise might not be able to. It was also nice that students could take a day to learn and experience things that interest them.”
According to responses to a survey sent out on Monday, nearly 80 percent of the respondents said that Choice Day is something HSE should do more regularly.
“I think overall it went well and next time will be even better,” Mathews said.
Close to 35 percent of the survey respondents reported that their favorite part of the day was trying a new activity or interest or having a choice in what their school day looked like.
“I heard a lot of positives – that it was fun, that it was a nice break, that it was great to get to meet other students,” Brown said. “Students shared a lot of ideas for future sessions.” She even hopes to see some student-led options in the future.
“It was one of the most fun days and just built unity,” Schroder said.
Around 45 percent of the respondents said they appreciated having a day to relax and have fun. Others enjoyed interacting with students and staff.
“I haven’t felt joy and togetherness like this at school since before the pandemic,” Habig said.
In the future, Brown would like to bring in even more professionals and businesses from the community to lead sessions and to provide students an even broader range of choices.
“I would really like to see this become a partnership between the school and the community,” she said.
Students practice CPR skills with Honors Biology teacher Kacy Probst and Ashley Heckly of the Fishers Fire Department. (Photo provided)