Entrepreneurs prepare for future

Hamilton Central School District is taking steps to create the innovative leaders of tomorrow.

Next year the district will be creating a new course for their students, part of what staff is calling the Black Collar Initiative.

The ideas are based on the book “World Class Learners” by Yong Zhao, and enforce teachers to create an environment where creativity, innovation and out- ofthe- box thinking take precedence and classroom instruction is set

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up through project- based learning ( PBL).

“In tomorrow’s society, our students are going to have to be creative and imaginative leaders no matter what field they choose to go into,” said Coordinator of Innovation and Enrichment at Hamilton Central School Eric Coriale. “We want or kids to be able to imagine something and create it.”

Using additional funding for being recognized as a charter school, HCS hopes to create a ‘ fablab’ in order for students to make their dreams a reality. Coriale likened the project to the Imagineers at Disney. Among things the school is considering for the black collar course is a program designed by MIT that would allow students to input design elements for an invention or idea and create a blueprint with ease. Depending on the materials and design, students may even have to opportunity to develop their blueprints into prototypes using the school’s wood shop and welding equipment.

“When our kids leave here, they will be expected to lead on a global scale,” said Coriale.

Although the black collar courses do not begin until next fall, some teachers have began to put innovative thought into current classroom instruction.

Agriculture and Technology Teacher Johanna Bossard said she’s already taken steps to encourage creativity in her classes by showing her students how to use out- of- the- box thinking.

An example of this is the school’s green house program. Students are growing their own vegetables, including tomatoes, which they use in the school lunch program. Instead of going out and buying tomato fences or topsy- turvys for planting, the students built their own out of 5 gallon buckets.

“Kids want to learn things hands on, through activities that have purpose,” said Bossard. Bossard said with the Black Collar Initiative, innovation is key and teaching stu- dents to not fit into a box will help them succeed in the future. The program is meant to instill a sense of grit in students; to build resiliency and create a desire to achieve and become lifelong learners.

“One of the things we have to think about as a district is that we have the Class of 2025 in kindergarten currently,” said Superintendant Diana Bowers. “We need to prepare them for whatever is to come.”

“We aren’t able to predict the future and give them the tools they will definitely need for 2025,” Bossard said, “but we can show them were to go to get that knowledge and take initiative.”