Stu-Camp
On Saturday, January 30th. ADM’s Student Voice group a.k.a. RSVP tackled the long drive up to Webster City, IA for IowaSLI’s annual StuCamp. 7 ADM students, Mrs. Basinger, and her son Keaton Basinger all took the journey.
StuCamp is a very special yearly event where students and their voice groups from all over Iowa meet to discuss issues or ideas to help renovate and innovate their schools and education systems. Topics discussed included anything from dress codes to study halls to how to tailor their educations so students are better prepared for the real world post-high school.
RSVP arrived at Webster City Middle School around 9 am. The day began with an open discussion in which all present created day’s schedule. This involved an excel sheet on an overhead projector and many students offering up ideas they wanted to discuss at sessions throughout the day. A session is the title for each meeting. Several different classrooms could be used as discussion centers for whomever wanted to attend and participate. There were three sessions, separated by team activities and lunch. Many ADM students attended sessions about the future of students. In these, about fifteen students from all different schools met and talked about why our schools base our curriculum on the past, rather than teaching things about the future. Several students proposed ideas of classes that involved learning hands-on subjects and skills such as how to replace a tire, how to cook, do laundry, etc.
We ended our day with a group reflection on what we had learned and discussed and how we would plan to implement that into our school systems. The long drive home was used for yet another reflecting and sharing period, except now among our friends.
RSVP encourages anyone and everyone to take action with us and start putting your beliefs and opinion into a place where you will be heard, respected, and where you can help make a change and make our school an incredible place. Please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Basinger and see what you can do to be a part of RSVP and help move the school forward.