Project Review: Mid East Peace Plan

The last project that the 7th and 8th grade students completed was a Mid-Eastern Conflict Peace Plan. This primarily focused on Israel and Palestine (the center of it all). In social studies, the students had to research the history, what Israel wants, what Palestine wants, and previous ways they have tried to fix this in the past. After gathering all the research, the students got into assigned groups to put together a plan for peace. The presentation needed a creative name, all information gathered, at least six pictures, and everyone from the group's participation. It was ironic that most of the groups had disagreements even though it was a project about peace. In the end, we needed to present in nice clothes to simulate presenting to the government. After the presentations, we were able to question the group’s decisions and the group needed to answer them. English also tied into the concept, as we read a book called Real Time that focused on the perspectives during the conflict, and we did multiple meaningful discussions related to the book. With the project, we got to understand more about the world,  and the possibility to make the peace plan a reality for the future.

~Adam Fehring

★Caitlin Marsch-Editor

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.

Future City Competition

Dylan and Mikhaya present to a group of engineers.

On 1/24/15 Dylan Morris and Mikhaya Tucci competed at the Future City Regional Competition. Having already submitted their Sim City design, and finalized 2 essays, they prepared a 3d model of their city and presented to engineers who assessed their work. They did a great job competing and are definitely excited to take their experience into the competition next year. Dylan Morris confirmed, "It was a great experience because it was challenging and fun at the same time." Mikhaya added that it" helped her with her social skills having to speak in front of different adults." If you see these two, be sure to ask them about this competition!

Dylan and Mikhaya make some last minute revisions to their presentation.

Guest Speaker: Wes Gaedke, West Bend Taxi Service

Wes Gaedke, the Regional Manager for the West Bend Taxi Service, came in on November 20, 2014. Wes explained to the students that the taxi service is more complicated than anyone assumes. There are a copious amount of people that use their taxi service in one day. Commonly it is around 350-500 people with 14 taxis altogether. Of these people, 75% are handicapped or elderly, 8% are students, and the last 17% are any other people. The taxi drivers are their own bosses and in charge of their expenses. They get their assignments from the dispatchers though and whoever is closest gets it.

By: Adam Fehring

Field Trip: Milwaukee County Zoo

Pathways' students studied habitats at the zoo

The first field trip of the school year, which related to the Agriculture career cluster, was a trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. The main reason we went to the zoo was to study the habitats of all the animals. This related to habitats that we created for an invented “Switch Zoo animal.” (SwitchZoo is an App that you can combine four animals into one, creating a new species. Visit http://switchzoo.com/zoo.htm to create your own animal, and consider the type of habitat necessary to sustain your creation.)

A work in progress- a model of a
fictitious animal's habitat.

When we got to the zoo we had two guest speakers. They talked about how they care for the animals and how their habitats are specifically designed for them. This helped us understand why the animal needed the specific features of each habitat. After we had the speakers we had a chance to walk through the Zoo and find our animals to see the habitats. We then took pictures of various habitats and used them to write a compare/contrast essay. Overall the trip to the zoo was not only educational but fun, and a great experience.


By Genna Puestow