Meek ProTech: A School Unlike Any Other

Meek ProTech is an alternative high school in NE Portland. Wondering what sets it apart from other schools? Check out this video to find out.

Video created by Meek ProTech students Karla Carballo, Keisha McGuffy, and Raymone Kennedy for PCC's Social Media Outreach Project.

Vernonia High School Construction

This marketing video was created by Vernonia High School students Josh Liman, Marina Mekidiche, and Vaclav Michalec for PCC's Social Media Outreach Project. Their goal was to recruit more students into their class and inform the community about the positive impact of the VHS construction program. Their finished product is hilarious and effective--take a look for yourself here or check it out on YouTube.

No Boyz Allowed Class Flourishing in Sherwood

Sherwood high school teachers John Neibergall and Jon Dickover share more than a first name: in adjoining classrooms they teach engineering and construction, respectively, two subjects which traditionally attract a much higher percentage of male students than females.

Unsatisfied with the low numbers of young women enrolled in their engineering classes, John and Jon put their heads together to come up with a solution. They looked at the research behind recruiting female students into nontraditional subjects. They examined the population they were serving: a vibrant and social school of over a thousand students in a tight-knit community. They talked to the young women already in enrolled in their classes.

They decided the best way to introduce female students to a potentially intimidating subject was to create a new class just for them. They gave it a catchy name: No Boyz Allowed. They set up a recruitment table during lunch periods and asked current female engineering students to show off cool projects and answer questions from curious passersby. Engaging prospective students one-on-one is proved to be a simple but powerful strategy: suddenly Sherwood High School students were seeing enthusiastic proof that girls could thrive in high tech classes.

Their hard work paid off: the first NBA class filled up. And then a second one.

Word of mouth from current students will likely popularize the program even more. Many of the students from this introductory class will move into more advanced engineering classes. From there they can pursue college educations and high wage jobs in a high tech field in desperate need of more women.

All thanks to two amazing teachers at Sherwood High School.

Extra Credit: Be sure to check out this great video, created by an NBA student, documenting some of the adventures the class has had so far!

Gaston High School Gives Back

Last school year the woods classes at Gaston High School illustrated the amazing positive impact a CTE program can have on its community.

One of the school district's bus drivers had recently fallen on hard financial times. Her kitchen cabinets were falling apart, but as anyone who has renovated a kitchen knows, replacing them was not exactly an affordable endeavor. That's when Gaston High School woods teacher Wade Sims proposed an idea: if she could pay for the raw materials, his class would construct her a full set of beautiful custom cabinets at no extra charge.

Take a look at the jaw-dropping results:

Advanced woods students did most of the actual construction, but students at every level were able to pitch in and help. In the end, a deserving member of the community got a beautiful new kitchen for a fraction of the price, while a group of dedicated students learned a valuable construction trade--not to mention the value of giving back.

Photojournal: The Astroturf Is Always Greener...

This year Banks High School horticulture teacher Tim Eggleston wanted to give his students a special hands-on project to put their skills and knowledge to use. A couple months later his class was putting the finishing touches on three fully functional putting greens.

To get started, everyone in the class submitted a putting green design. The class voted to choose the top 3. The students with the winning designs became the project bosses, guiding small groups of their classmates through the process of bringing their designs to life using wood, astroturf, and trigonometry. Mr. Eggleston wanted the process to mimic a real life construction project as closely as possible--from submitting designs to delegating tasks and negotiating leadership roles.

"It's fun to actually do the hands-on work," says student Garritt Schmidlkofer. "You're not sitting in a chair for an hour and a half and then switching classes and sitting in another chair for an hour and a half. You get to see the results of your work."

"If you're lazy, you're not going to like this class," says 8th grader Alina Boding. "I love using the tools."

Adds Bryton McKinnon: "It's cool to actually be able to build stuff. And also mini golf is my third favorite sport."

Check out Banks High School's budding golf course designers hard at work: