The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Smile for the camera
Council approves transportation items, including use of closed circuit video cameras
NORRISTOWN >> The Norristown council approved two transportation-related measures on Tuesday.
It signed on to a five-year agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to allow that agency to install closed circuit video cameras and travel time readers at various locations along Route 202 within Norristown.
Municipal Manager Crandall Jones explained that the cameras and will allow PennDOT to be able to monitor traffic along the
the librarian, and it’s once a week or once a cycle and they’ll use design thinking, as we do, to create. We’re all about empathy here, understanding others’ feelings and being flexible to everyone, and now being able to use STEM to not only extend what we’re learning in the classroom, we’re using it to help students meet the needs of other students. We get kids from many different counties, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and we meet the needs of kids who are not thriving in their school districts and come to us with specific needs. When you think about it, STEM is design technology is in everything we do,” Fullem added. “We’re just honing the skills of our kids.”
The Innovation Center is billed as a place where students 5- to 21-years-old have an opportunity to “ideate and create.”
The building features a “maker space” for creating and learning using technology; a media center for video production; an eSports lab for competitive e-gaming; a classroom focused on the sciences; a culinary arts room with a student-run café; an interactive energy corridor with Pavegen flooring; Science & Horticulture room; and a multi-use dining and presentation space.
The eSports lab is one of the most popular venues, Fullem pointed out. Pathway School CEO David Schultheis speaks to the crowd at the grand opening of the schools Innovation Center.
“In the next couple of years there will be more high school eSports teams than high school football teams,” he said. “For the reason that it’s accessible to more kids and more kids are interested in video games than football. Video games are now a teaching tool. Our kids are like their peers in that they love video games, they love technology. And while we’re letting them play we’re also teaching them social skills, gaming etiquette, maintaining self control, strategizing ... it’s all about finding that hack, that cheat. But you know what, they found that glitch in the game, and they’re going to be better at it because of it. That’s problem solving. And they love it.”
As the school’s CEO David Schultheis noted, “we all deal with technology on some level these days. We just need to prepare our students for whatever that is. We’re teaching them that technology is a tool, not just a toy. Public schools and some really fancy private schools offer STEM to some of their students, but we’re offering it to all of our students.” Company background indicated that The Pathway School’s programs are licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Academic Schools and approved by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Special Education to serve students ages 5 through 21 and that “Pathway believes that all children deserve an individualized and leading-edge education grounded in an innovative teaching philosophy that is adapted to meet all students where they are and to assist them in acquiring practical skills that help them thrive in their communities as children and young people today, and later in life as adults. Included among its programs are academic, physical, social/emotional, clinical support, and career education.”
The Innovation Center also features an Engineering, Tools and Tech Space room.
Fullem likes to call it a wood shop.
“The kids are getting to use their hands and it’s one of those things, especially for our population, when oftentimes the focus is so much on social skills and they’re working so hard just to keep up with their peers they don’t get to do the school electives that they would have if they were in a typical high school. Now that we have it, they’re getting to build, something that only typical school students are able to do.”
By the time a student arrives at Pathway, he or she has met with failure with many times, Fullem said.
“Their self esteem is low. So when they come here they can be a top eSports player or they can design something or grow plants in Horticulture or build a cell phone charging station in wood shop or have an oncampus job or be in drama ... we just have so many different things for kids to hang their hat on and be proud of.”