Tri-folds take over the PAC entrance hall as students talk to parents about their ideas to improve the school. Juniors Alexis Luna, Janet Ramirez and Olivia Jackson present their idea over implementing a study hall in the school day to make studying and getting work done easier for students in other activities. Other presentations touch on topics such as putting foreign languages into the elementary schools, sex education in high schools and year-round schooling.
The doors to the PAC open, and parents start to find a seat to watch the five main presentations of the night. An excited parent with flowers in hand walks in looking for her child, giving her a wave when she finally finds her. Five distinct groups stand around huddled together going over final touches to the presentation. Coach Rachel Ryan, the sponsor of the event, stands on the stage and greets the people attendees.
“These five presentations are well-researched and well-thought-out ideas I am excited to share with all of you,” Coach Ryan said. “I’m not going to talk too much because I’m not the one you are here to see.”
Coach Ryan hands the microphone off to the first group, juniors Avleen Kang and Kassidy Duncan, and they start their presentation over the benefits of implementing an internship program. The group touches on the topic of school not preparing students for the real world and how internships would fix this issue by giving students the tools they need to succeed in the world after high school. They went on to explain how the class would work in theory and how it worked in Frisco ISD.
As Kang and Duncan finish, junior Katlin Nguyen takes the stage to present her idea on transportation for after school activities. Nguyen speaks on the issue of high school students’ inability to drive because of age and socioeconomic status and how that affects dropout and failure rates for students.
“The solution is that we must implement after-school transportation for Mansfield ISD high schools,” Nguyen said. “This after-school transportation system would provide extra buses for an hour after school which would give students the time to participate in extracurricular activities, join clubs and go to tutoring.”
Nguyen believes the district should go forth with her plan because of the benefits it has for students. A financial plan flashes onto the screen and Nguyen states her proposed budget plan for her idea and how in the end the school would make more money with the of higher attendance rates. Nguyen wraps up her final thoughts on how her plan follows Superintendent Dr. Jim Vaszauskas’ vision 2020 plan.
Nguyen leaves the stage and juniors Priscilla Brothers, Benita Orie, Bryce Bell and Jordan Kutch begin to present their plan on making school less college-centered for all students. Orie starts off by saying that the school system limits students’ options when the curriculum solely focuses on college readiness.
“Not every student is made for college,” Brothers said. “We have a wide range of students not going to college, but we are treating them like they still are.”
A slide of statistics about the SAT comes up, and Brothers explains how 30 percent of high school seniors in 2016 did not take their SAT. Kutch expands on the topics and begins talking about how giving students more options could reduce the dropout rate and prepare more students for the real world. Orie and Bell show on their slide show a poll they ran on Twitter which asked if students they believed high school prepared them for life after high school. Only 24 percent of respondents felt like it did. Brothers presents their plan that instead of endorsements, MISD could implement four different pathways, college, workforce, trade school and military so that each student has the preparation they need for life. The group thanks everybody for attending along with Coach Ryan.
The last group of the night comes out on stage and begins their plan. Juniors Ethan Rozak, Lexus Ramos, Ashley Perez and Nicole Wright ask interactive questions to the audience to test their knowledge on financial literacy. With a majority of the audience answering the trivia questions wrong, Ramos presented the issue of school not teaching necessary life skills. Perez dives into detail about the areas school should educate students in, and Wright presents statistics of a financial literacy test. The test shows that the majority of students have not learned about how to deal with finances. Rozak then explains a plan on how to put these skills into high school curriculum and better prepare students for adult life. Rozak presents the proposed changed credit requirements to include a financial literacy class to give students an opportunity at learning this life skill.
“Right now, advisory is just a blow off 20 minutes that nothing is ever really accomplished in,” Rozak said. “So an implementation of life skills like changing tires and cooking skills into advisory is what I want to do.”
The presentations finish, and Coach Ryan thanks everybody for coming. People file out of the PAC to get better looks at the tri-fold presentations. Soon, the night comes to an end, and students leave the school to prepare for the next day.
