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Federal Hocking parents share praise, concerns and potential changes for senior projects with the new superintendent
By: Theo Peck-Suzuki | Report for America
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STEWART, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Parents at Federal Hocking had a chance to tell the district’s new superintendent exactly what they thought of a controversial graduation requirement at a community meeting Wednesday evening.
The requirement in question is Fed Hock’s 100-hour senior project. Since the mid-1990s, students attending Federal Hocking High School have had to complete one on a topic of their choosing to graduate (with an exception for those attending Tri-County Career Center). Some parents have expressed concern that the projects are too big a burden for some students, prompting the district to arrange Wednesday’s meeting.
Fed Hock Superintendent Jason Spencer, who joined the district in August, helped lead the meeting. He said in his previous role in the Cincinnati public school system, he worked with schools doing similar projects. His goal, he said, is not to scrap the Fed Hock projects entirely, but find ways they could be improved.
“We can take what’s good, keep the good, and modify what changes we can … to make it better,” he said.
Staff also noted that it is almost unheard of for a Fed Hock student not to complete their project.
Parents then shared their own thoughts. One of the first to speak said he felt the projects should be made optional. He noted that kids who do extracurriculars or work a job to support their family may have trouble finding 100 hours for an assignment outside the regular school day.
Why not make the project an elective, he asked, so the kids who want to do it can, and the kids who can’t don’t have to?
Because some kids need that extra push, responded Hanna Vorisek. Her son Myles rebuilt an old Yamaha motorcycle for his senior project, something she thinks he would never have done otherwise.
“I don’t think kids would do it for optional,” she said. “Kids will take the path of least resistance.”
Vorisek said she thinks every kid can benefit from the project.
“It’s the same thing of like, ‘Why is PE mandatory by the state? Why is art?’ Because they challenge us in a different way,” she said.
Vorisek also said parents should trust the experts — in this case, the students’ teachers. The ones at the meeting spoke strongly in support of the project.
Hocking College instructor Terry Hill was also at the meeting. He said many of the recent high school graduates he sees in his class come lacking crucial skills.
“They have difficulties with understanding when to reach out for help, understanding the transition from high school to college and how much more difficult it is,” Hill said.
This, he said, is exactly what Fed Hock’s senior project is supposed to teach kids: how to build connections, find a mentor, identify resources, and then use all of that to learn in a self-directed way.
Hill also noted during the meeting that with proper time management, a 100-hour project may not be as formidable as it seems: It comes out to two hours a week for one year, leaving two weeks of vacation. That, he joked, could probably just come out of kids’ screen time.
“Maybe that’s even a good example of how we can educate our students on how a slow and steady process toward a long-term goal can be easily accomplished,” Hill said.
Hill acknowledged he hadn’t considered the barriers facing low-income students before coming to the meeting.
“There could be some differentiation — a big gap between what one student is doing versus another,” he said. “But again, to me, that is a life skill. That is the challenge of working with the resources that are available to you, and again, if you don’t have the resources, the ability to reach out and communicate to those who can help you.”
Parents and staff brainstormed ways to better help students who would benefit from greater support. One suggestion was to combine the senior projects with an internship program offered by Fed Hock teacher Renee Ripple. Parents also discussed creating a scholarship fund to ensure cost isn’t a barrier to completing projects, which Hill said he thought was a good idea.
Superintendent Spencer said one of his biggest takeaways from the meeting is that the district needs to communicate better.
“We create gaps sometimes,” he said. That creates uncertainty among parents and may exacerbate concerns about the projects.
Spencer said the district plans to announce what changes, if any, it will make to the projects in the spring. The changes will not affect current juniors, who will be expected to do the projects as normal.
Vorisek said she thinks losing the projects would erase a big part of Fed Hock’s identity.
“Fed Hock is such a cool school with such a good reputation, and I really value that,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons we moved to this area, so our kids could to go to Federal Hocking.”