The Importance of Cultural Arts, Music, and Physical Education in Schools

I was alarmed by a recent article in the Charlotte Observer regarding the potential cuts that could come to teachers in the areas of the arts, music, and physical education.  As a principal who has served at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, such an event would be a downright travesty to education in North Carolina. While I am for reducing class sizes for students in North Carolina's schools, the method taken by the North Carolina General Assembly to reduce class sizes should not come at the expense of cutting out programs and teachers that support the education of children in the areas of the cultural arts and physical education.

As an educator, citizen, and parent, I am concerned that many of our policy makers in Raleigh may view these content areas as "extras" or "luxuries."  If so, this is certainly looking at what happens in classrooms across our great state through a very discolored lens.  In fact, the opposite view is the correct view.  The arts, music, and physical education classes are as essential to core instructional areas as anything else that is taught in schools and is so intertwined in other curricula that it would be a crime to attempt to tease them out of schools.

Imagine the world where students are not taught by experts in the areas of visual arts, music, and physical education.  We already seem to be heading down a road where we have forgotten that much, if not all, of the beauty and culture we experience in our lives, both today and for future generations, was possibly sparked in classrooms where finger paint, watercolor, tambourines, and games of all sorts were played.

As a parent, I am troubled that my son's education may be jeopardized by the inability of our leaders to understand the importance of providing students with educational opportunities that are diverse in nature. I took the time today to look up the definition of education.  Two  popped up on my screen:

Interestingly, the word education is connected to educare.  Both definitions are appropriate, and both are necessary.  My hope is that there is enough enlightenment left in the North Carolina General Assembly to make the right decisions in these matters.  We certainly need a little more care about the education of our students in North Carolina.  School should be an enlightening experience in more than one way.

Electronic References:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article141940214.html

Written by:

Dr. Jeff Isenhour  @JeffIsenhour

Bunker Hill High School Principal

Follow Dr. Isenhour on Twitter @JeffIsenhour

Contact Dr. Isenhour by email Jeffrey_Isenhour@catawbaschools.net

April 5, 2017

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ead more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article141940214.html#storylink=cpy

The Opportunity Students Have with College and Career Promise

On Monday, March 20, a meeting was held at Bunker Hill High School inviting parents of rising juniors, seniors, and sophomores for the purpose of hearing more about the College and Career Promise Program that exists in partnership with Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC).

As a parent, I am excited about the opportunities that programs such as this can provide for my own child as well as the opportunities that it provides for every child in our community.  As an adult, I must admit that I am a little envious of these opportunities and can't help but think about a time when I was in school, wishing that I would have had some of the same opportunities.  I simply cannot stress the impact that this program has on helping students get a jump on both college and career and provides the gift of financial rewards to families as they prepare to pay for education beyond high school.

This year at Bunker Hill, we started our first blended cohort of juniors and seniors in the College and Career Promise Program with CVCC.  The program works by having community college professors come to the high school and teach college classes.  Students that qualify for the program are duly enrolled students with Bunker Hill and Catawba Valley Community College.  What does this mean?  It means that students get both high school and college credit at the same time.  It also means that students that start in the program as juniors can earn a minimum of 25 college credit hours that will transfer to all of the University of North Carolina Colleges/Universities as well as many of the private colleges across North Carolina.  If you are more motivated than this as a student and couple these credits with a sprinkling of Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and be willing to take an online class or two throughout high school, it is entirely possible for students to leave the traditional high school and enter college well into their sophomore year.

Opportunities such as this translate into thousands of dollars worth of savings for families and provide direct evidence to colleges and universities that students are more than prepared to enter the college arena and be successful.  The purpose of this blog today is to inform more of our parents in our immediate school community of these opportunities in the hopes that we have more students sign up for these courses and prepare themselves to be ready for such opportunities before getting to their junior year in high school.  Also, it is about ensuring that we are continuing to provide information about how college can be affordable.  We are blitzed by the message that students and families are consumed with college debt.  There is no doubt that this happens. However, there is also the opportunity to avoid debt by taking advantage of programs such as this.

This week, our Student Services Department wrapped up the first phase of registration for classes for the upcoming school year.  As a principal, and as counselors, we want to get the scheduling process right, and we want students and parents to register for choices that are both beneficial and exciting so that we meet our customer expectations and build transcripts that help students be successful for both college and career futures.  As we move beyond this week, I want to encourage students and parents to continue to explore the opportunities around the College and Career Promise Program and push us as a high school to continue to seek out and offer more advanced opportunities.  This is how we will continue to improve and make sure we are preparing students for the success in both the present and future.

For more information about CCP, contact the Bunker Hill High School Student Services Department at (828) 241-3355.

Written by:

Dr. Jeff Isenhour  @JeffIsenhour

Bunker Hill High School Principal

Contact Dr. Isenhour on Twitter @JeffIsenhour

Contact Dr. Isenhour by email Jeffrey_Isenhour@catawbaschools.net

Exploring New Ways of Communicating with Stakeholders

How often have you heard the expression, " I am old school."  As a school principal, I think there are some things from the "old school" tool box that are valuable.  Some of those things would certainly be the focus on the three R's, Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic (Literacy and Mathematics).  In addition, I would argue that another "old school" item of value is the need to be on time, respectful, and self-disciplined.

If I have to get right down to the brass tacks of the whole thing, I am not sure what "old school" really means.  As an educator, I have asked others and myself the question:  "What does it mean to be "new school"? I thought I would take a stab at it from a communication angle.

Recently, I heard a presenter speak about how they use social media to communicate with stakeholders. The presenter never talked about anything that involved paper.  Everything that was presented focused on the use of electronic media.  Media that was quick, to the point, and could be pushed out in numerous ways, to a myriad number of receivers, forms, and venues.  In other words, in a matter of minutes, the message was created, packaged, delivered, received, interpreted, re-communicated, and if necessary, avoided, and deleted.  In this string of communication verbs, I am sure I have left something out.  Feel free to criticize and redo.  I am okay with that.  In the new ways of communicating with stakeholders, it can only help us get better and get the message right to the right people.

Check Us Out At...

In understanding this process of new ways of communicating with our stakeholder at Bunker Hill, we are adding a new venue.  We have launched ourselves into the world of podcasting and vodcasting (video casting). In order to do this, we have created a new crew, team, what have you, that we are referring to as the MaP Team.  Map stands for Marketing and Production Team and is headed up by our innovative media coordinator along with a fluid band of students and faculty members.

The purpose of the MaP Team is to do as its name suggests, "Put us on the Map,"  with no pun intended.  In reality, we want our students, community, stakeholders, and the rest of the world to know about the good things we do in our school each week.  At present, we use our webpage, we face-book-it, tweet, and as principal, send out information through LinkedIn and now, my own Twitter feed.

As we expand into the world of pod and vodcasting, we are hopeful to provide stakeholders and beyond an opportunity to see and hear about what we do and who we are.  Is it worth it?  We are not sure.  I think so, simply because we are providing an opportunity for students to work with staff members on a project that promotes us.  As we complete our first adventure with our new feed called BearTalk, we ask you to tune in and check us out.

Written by:

Dr. Jeff Isenhour  @JeffIsenhour

Bunker Hill High School Principal

Contact Dr. Isenhour on Twitter @JeffIsenhour

Contact Dr. Isenhour by email Jeffrey_Isenhour@catawbaschools.net

March 22, 2017

High School Shark Tank Holds Water for Future Entrepreneurs

Sometimes as a high school principal, it is easy to stand at the back of a classroom and feel like a character in a Walter Mitty skit.  Rather than be something you are not, the opposite actually occurs.  You stand there and imagine what the possibilities could have been had you the same opportunities as your students.
This week, I stood in the back of Ms. Oletha Rhinehart's classroom and listened to Dean Gary Muller and Jeff Neuville from Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) present to our high school students in business classes at Bunker Hill High School.  The presentation consisted of information related to opportunities at CVCC, the importance of the Small Business Center,  information related to getting involved with a Shark Tank contest, and finally the importance of putting a business plan together.

CVCC is a major partner with Bunker Hill High School and with other high schools in our area.  Through this partnership, students have exposure to numerous opportunities such as those presented in our business classes as well as the those related to the College and Career Promise Program where students can earn both high school and college credit.


The presentation by Mr. Neuville and Dean Gary Muller highlighted the upcoming 2017 Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour being held on Thursday, April 6, 2017, from 11 am to 1 pm on the campus of CVCC as well as a promotion for the 2017 High School Shark Tank Competition.  As a school principal, we are encouraging our students in our business classes to get involved in this competition.  Young entrepreneurs are crucial to our rapidly changing economy and the future of our region.





In a 2016 article in Forbes, author Alex Amari wrote:

Entrepreneurship has long propelled the American economy. Startup activity represents one of the highest correlations with strong economic performance. New businesses account for nearly all new net job creation and 20 percent of gross jobs created, accounting for roughly 1.5 million jobs per year in the United States over the past three decades. And these new businesses are particularly important in times of economic uncertainty and comparative stagnation in GDP growth: Between 2006 and 2009, young firms remained a net positive source of employment growth, whereas older and larger firms shed more jobs than they created.

Based on Amari's article, exposing high school students to entrepreneurship and activities such as the Shark Tank Competition at CVCC are crucial to our economic futures.  I want to thank our leaders in Catawba County and the business community for supporting such endeavors.  The partnerships we have can only make us stronger.

Electronic References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2016/10/25/young-entrepreneurs/#3145f29d3953

https://www.bls.gov/bdm/entrepreneurship/entrepreneurship.htm

Written by:

Dr. Jeff Isenhour  @JeffIsenhour

Bunker Hill High School Principal

Contact Dr. Isenhour on Twitter @JeffIsenhour

Contact Dr. Isenhour by email Jeffrey_Isenhour@catawbaschools.net

March 15, 2017

Connecting High School Ag Classes to High Tech

On Thursday of this week, I had the opportunity to attend a code.org (www.code.org) activity with my son at his elementary school.  His school was hosting a STEM night and this was one of the highlighted activities for parents and their children to be involved.  The purpose or vision of code.org is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer science, just like biology, chemistry or algebra.

An expansion of the opportunities associated with code.org continued into Friday at Bunker Hill High School.  At 11:30 am, we were able to participate in a Google Hangout with Dr. Sharon Jones from the organization, along with key central level leaders from Catawba County Schools, me, and Mr. Danny Montgomery, agriculture teacher at Bunker Hill High School.  The discussion at this time centered around working with Dr. Jones to bring this type of technology to Bunker Hill and combine it with the fascinating activities that Mr. Montgomery has going on at our school.

We have named this initiative #farmtocode. It will involve combining the activities in our hydroponics program with the computer technology related to programming.  We discussed ideas of how to write computer code that monitors such things as water level, ph levels, the temperature in the greenhouses, and control of different pumps related to the hydroponic system.  All of this would have the possibility of being connected to apps that could alert individuals of changes or needs in these environments.

You may be asking the following question at this point:

Why is all this important?  

Under the leadership of Danny Montgomery and support of the Catawba County School’s CTE Director, Mark Story, Bunker Hill has created some cutting edge activities using hydroponics.  We have been able to successfully use tanks of tilapia to feed and water two systems that grow lettuce and tomatoes.  At present, Bunker Hill is working on completing GAP certification.  Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) are voluntary audits that verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled, and stored as safely as possible to minimize risks of microbial food safety hazards.

The purpose of completing GAP certification is to allow our greenhouses to produce food products that could be used in our own school nutrition operations to feed our students.  In other words, we would be producing items on one side of the campus and consuming them on the other side of campus.

In addition to the creation of more sustainable operations, we are teaching students knowledge and skills that are much needed as we progress deeper into the 21st century.  The future of agriculture around the globe depends on the next generation of professionals that can manage complex technological systems. Agriculture is changing faster than any time in history. In a 2015 article on CNBC related to agriculture and job growth, author Jeff Daniels wrote:

A new report finds there's high demand, at least for the foreseeable future, for college graduates with a degree in agricultural programs. An average of nearly 60,000 high-skilled ag and related job openings are expected annually in the United States over the next five years, with only about 35,000 grads in food, ag, renewable resources or the environment graduating each year to fill them, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Purdue University. The study estimates that demand in agriculture and life science-related fields will be strongest for plant scientists, water-resource scientists and engineers, farm animal veterinarians, and precision ag and pest control specialists, among other positions.

Based on such reports, we are excited to be offering new opportunities for our students at Bunker Hill.
The combining of hands-on learning with high-tech can only provide more opportunities for our graduates in their futures to come.

References:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/auditing/gap-ghp

https://code.org/

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/20/agriculture-fertile-ground-for-job-seekers.html

Written by:

Dr. Jeff Isenhour  @JeffIsenhour

Bunker Hill High School Principal

Contact Dr. Isenhour on Twitter @JeffIsenhour

Contact Dr. Isenhour by email Jeffrey_Isenhour@catawbaschools.net

March 10, 2017