BY ROD HANSEN
From forensic science to fitness studies, students at New Heights Charter Academy are taking on a wide range of topics.
The academy, a publicly chartered high school accepting juniors and seniors, is now in the middle of its first full year accepting full- and part-time students.
The academy hosted its Midyear Project Expo in the Goffstown High School cafeteria on Saturday, Jan. 27. The event allowed students to exhibit their projects to school officials and members of the public while explaining the challenges and learning opportunities their work presented, said New Heights Board of Trustees Vice Chairman John Webb.
New Heights Charter Academy was granted its charter through the New Hampshire Department of Education and has been operating out of Goffstown High School since January of last year. Students at the academy earn high school credits through project-based learning, Webb said.
“A charter academy gives students a chance to study subjects of interest to them, and to tie in their passion with something tangible,” Webb said.
Approximately 22 of the school’s students exhibited at the Expo, where they arranged displays charting and explaining their work. The students use the projects to demonstrate expertise in their chosen field while gaining knowledge in core areas of the curriculum, Webb said.
The projects, which mostly reflected students’ longtime interests, were developed with the help of project coaches with experience in their chosen fields, Webb said.
For example, senior Jessica Yianakopolos pursued her interest in forensics through a model crime scene developed with consulting help from New Boston Police Chief Chris Krajenka.
Yianakopolos’s display consisted of a mock murder scene in the cafeteria, complete with crime tape, a body outline (with senior Ariana Pease serving as a model), a gun, a bullet and several other elements constituting 11 points of crime scene evidence.
“Jessica’s project shows how (a student’s) interest can evolve over time. She started off with an interest in law enforcement in general, but now her project is more of a CSI-type” display, said Krajenka, who is chairman of the New Heights seven-member board of directors.
Other projects included senior Ryan Sweatt’s fitness exhibit titled “Quest for Mass of both Mind and Muscle,” a project from senior Meredith Barss on early childhood development and a laser maze developed by junior Josh Welton of New Boston.
The Expo also included projects from New Heights students who come from outside the Goffstown School District’s immediate area. For example, junior Philip Gaudette of Pelham attends the academy and pursues his interest in hip-hop music through an internship at Surefire Recording Studios in Lowell, Mass.
Gaudette’s exhibit featured the performance of three original compositions he’d developed at that studio, he said.
The students’ interest in their subject area often leads to an enhanced educational experience, said Krajenka.
“The projects give the students a hands-on learning opportunity,” Krajenka said.
New Heights is the seventh charter school in New Hampshire. The academy has also emphasizes community-based learning projects, such as collecting information from businesses and other local organizations to create an interactive map using Google Earth software over last summer’s session.