Next Project: Xlandia

The country of xlandia has just gotten full control over their government. Their previous government was ruled by a royal family in a dictatorship, but the citizens of xlandia were sick of their reign and decided to overthrow them. The students at Pathways have been hired to form a task force to form a government. This task force will be made up of representatives from many different countries and regions with the research from their own government faults and qualities. Together the students will create a democracy that will work for the country of Xlandia and its diversity.

By: Kiera Fischer

Tenth Grade Room

Coach O'Connor (on right) checks in with the tenth graders on their "On task and standard completion" data to make sure students are pacing as a tenth grader should and strategize on how to continuously improve. 

This year at pathways, the 10th graders were given their own special room to design and make theirs. The 7 tenth graders not only get their own room, but they get to create their own projects. Pathways is based all off standard attainment, and 10th graders have the opportunity to design their own projects to master those standards on their own. For instance Justin Mesick is writing a script for a sitcom that satirizes several popular shows including: Seinfeld, Breaking Bad and Scrubs. Justin designed his project to hit English, Social studies, and science standards by writing the script to also explain specific topics within the show such as freedom of speech and renewable vs. nonrenewable resources. The 10th graders are not monitored at all times; they are to show  “work environment” behavior, and make sure their work gets done. They have daily check ins with their coaches virtually, and face to face check ins as needed. This new addition to Pathways is not only teaching the 10th graders to have a good work ethic but also to take on responsibilities such as time management as they prepare for their future careers.

Justin Mesick and Hayden Waala collaborate on a joint project.
They will be analyzing the marketing strategies employed
 in advertising the film The Lorax while also analyzing its depiction
 of deforestation.

By: Generose Puestow

Project: Roller Coaster Design

Hey viewers, it may have been a while but we bloggers have gotten our groove back on track.You may have already read about this in the West Bend Daily News but recently the Pathways 7th and 8th grade students designed rollercoasters. As part of the Transportation career cluster, we learned about terms such as; kinetic energy, potential energy, inertia, and each of Newton’s Laws. This eventually led to us designing our own roller coasters! As we went through the design process we discovered ways to incorporate a loop, a 90° turn, a jump, and a hill.  We needed to rely only on gravity to have a marble reach the end of the track. After we had a successful design we had to calculate the energy our coasters produced and write a narrative, persuasive, or informative essay. This was to get across the point of view from a rider, a marketer, or an engineer’s perspective. It was challenging incorporating the terms and calculations in our final paper to show the depth of our understanding of the concepts we explored.  All in all, it was a neat learning experience designing a roller coaster.

~Adam Fehring

Samwise Baker and Dylan Olson double check their model's calculations.