A little more than a year after setting out to answer “what defines success in Brown County,” Brown County Schools has received a $500,000 grant. That money will go toward programs to help ready every student for whatever path they decide to take after crossing the graduation stage.
“We are thrilled to receive this extraordinary grant award,” Superintendent Laura Hammack said in a press release. “Through the Ready Schools process, we have rediscovered a hope for our community. The Ready Schools grant will enhance programmatic offerings for our students and the community that will translate in substantive impact for Brown County specifically, and the Indiana Uplands region as a whole.”
Plans for the money include implementing STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education at all grade levels, funding the Eagle Manufacturing center at the high school, and rebranding the Brown County Career Resource Center as an educational hub for everyone and not just adult students.
Christy Wrightsman was hired last summer as the district’s Regional Opportunity Initiative Ready Schools coordinator. She now serves as the director of the CRC.
One of the first steps the district took in the ROI process was to create an Education and Workforce Advisory Team of people representing industry, community, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders. A Design Thinking Team was also created to answer questions identified during interviews last fall. Wrightsman and teams of community members and educators conducted 115 interviews with more than 130 local people to understand local issues they needed to address with an ROI grant.
“They defined our success. They defined what they wanted from our schools,” Wrightsman said about the interviews.
“We now have a systems approach based on three pillars of success.”
Those three pillars are: “The ready student”; innovative teaching and learning; and community and regional engagement.
One of the definitions of success from the community was having a student who is prepared for life after high school — “not just for a four-year college, but a student who is ready for whatever is next. Whatever the next step is in their educational career, their life beyond high school, they will have a plan,” Wrightsman said.
Using that information, a graduate profile was created. It says that students who graduate from Brown County High School will display social, emotional and physical wellness; communicate effectively; engage in curricular and co-curricular opportunities; has prepared for success in a 21st century workforce; and seeks to innovate.
“There’s a new target for our students,” Wrightsman said.
“At the end of their pre-K to (grade) 12 experience in Brown County Schools, this is the kind of graduate you’re going to get. If you’re industry, you’re business, this is what you’re getting from a Brown County graduate.”
She said when community members involved in business and industry were interviewed, they said a lot of focus seemed to be put on a four-year college education, and they didn’t know much about the other options available for students who don’t take that route.
“We want to make sure that we are meeting their needs and sharing the options that are available within our region for those other paths that are maybe not straight to a four-year college right after graduation,” Wrightsman said.
The community members also said they value entrepreneurship and vocational education.
“Our community said that they want us to teach STEM, but keep art in STEM and really teach a STEAM approach (with arts as the “A”). That speaks to Brown County and this artisan community. It makes sense for who we are here,” she said.
“That’s what I appreciated about this process with Ready Schools: They allowed us to be Brown County. They allowed us to chart the path of determining what success meant for us here in Brown County, not what success means somewhere else.”
Next steps
The ROI grant money will be spent in three phases. The first phase will cost $258,964.36, according to the implementation grant budget summary.
The biggest cost in that phase will be $104,953.75 for creating maker spaces and collaborative learning spaces for STEM education in the schools.
More than $50,000 will be spent on STEAM curriculum and training for teachers.
Almost $29,000 will be spent on an educator professional model.
About $21,500 has been set aside in phase one to help fund Eagle Manufacturing, a student-run business in Brown County High School. The money will help buy supplies and equipment and send the instructors to the International Manufacturing and Trade Show, with the hope of sending the student managers to the show in the future.
Wrightsman said many of the initiatives, including Eagle Manufacturing, have already begun in the district because they aligned with the school’s vision statement: World-class opportunities, small school relationships and lifelong impact.
The Career Resource Center will be re-branded as the Brown County Education Hub using $27,310 of the grant money in phase one. This includes a “refresh” inside and outside of the building which is under way.
Connections and partnerships with regional industry also will be made through the CRC, and the CRC will be creating educational partnerships. “What we’re talking about is the Brown County Career Resource Center being that educational hub for all,” Wrightsman said.
“If you’re looking to take a community class, we have the community class. If you’re looking to enroll in Ivy Tech, if you’re looking to get help with writing an essay to enroll in a four-year institution, these are services that have been provided in the past, and we’re going to refresh and upgrade those opportunities.”
WorkOne will remain within the CRC. WorkOne is part of the state’s workforce development programs and helps people find jobs and get the training required for them.
Hosting different training sessions, like STEAM training for teachers, is another goal for the CRC, Wrightsman said.
Currently the CRC is also offering Ivy Tech synchronous classes, where students can take a college class at the same time as others are taking it on the Ivy Tech Bloomington campus through webcam. “We can provide a quiet space, computer, webcam and Wi-Fi. … Save your gas money; come take your Ivy Tech classes at the CRC,” Wrightsman said.
“We think there’s a wonderful bridge between graduating Brown County High School and stepping right over across the street to the Career Resource Center and helping them navigate what’s next on their path,” she said.
She said that now is a “very exciting time for Brown County Schools” and that the school district recognizes its “responsibility in regional growth and prosperity.”
“We have a vision, but we have a system now in place to support that vision that was created by our stakeholder group two years ago when Dr. (Laura) Hammack first came to the district,” Wrightsman said.
“When someone asks us, ‘What do you see happening in Brown County Schools for the future?’ We see ready students. We see students who are ready for the future, ready in whatever capacity they choose as their pathway in life. We see innovative teaching and learning as being a must, that we have to keep up with what’s happening in our world and the job opportunities.”
“In talking with anyone, I can absolutely say now, ‘Here’s our vision. Here’s our system, and this is what we’re doing. … ‘We’re the best small school corporation you’re going to find.”
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Superintendent’s Corner: What the ROI grant means for Brown County Schools / A4
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