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The ribbon was cut to the newly implemented Star Academy at Barnwell High School on April 25. The program is designed to re-engage students with a non-traditional learning approach.
Superintendent Dr. Crissie Stapleton is just as excited as her students to see the Star Academy offer a new approach to learning at Barnwell High School.
Superintendent Dr. Crissie Stapleton hugs a Star Academy student at the ribbon cutting.
Community leaders such as Williston-Elko High School Principal Anthony Flowers, USC Salkehatchie Dean Dr. April Cone, and City of Barnwell Mayor Pro-Tem Peggy Kinlaw learn alongside students at the Star Academy in Barnwell High School.
Students can work collaboratively or individually with a more hands-on approach in the program.
Before the 2022-23 school year at Barnwell High School (BHS) ended, the ribbon was cut welcoming the new Star Academy program to the school.
Star Academy is a STEM-based, hands-on learning program offered by Louisiana-based NOLA Education to “enhance the success of disengaged learners,” according to a press release.
Barnwell School District 45 (BSD45) was first awarded $400,000 from the Department of Education in 2021 innovation grants to implement the program in Guinyard-Butler Middle School (GBMS). Based on the success in the middle school, the district applied for a $800,000 innovation grant received in October 2022 to bring the program to the high school.
Students in the Star Academy are on a tailored learning track looking at workforce development and “hands-on, real life learning,” said BHS Principal Franklin McCormack at the event.
“Sometimes students struggle early on with the Star Academy model because it is so different from what they’re used to in traditional classrooms,” said Denise James, Star Academy director at GBMS. “At Star Academy, each student is in his or her own driver’s seat, and they take ownership of their education and their growth as individuals – work ethic, accountability, collaboration, and more.”
“Once they understand and embrace the model and begin to empower themselves with it, they’re headed off towards success fast,” said James.
On the BHS campus, there are a row of classrooms dedicated to this new learning endeavor described as a “school within a school” by the grant press release.
Community members as well as local officials and leaders were welcome to tour the classrooms at the April 25 ribbon cutting.
Participants were able to view the instruction style in which Star Academy teachers conduct their classrooms. Students are given their own work space with the flexibility to work either individually or collaboratively.
In one classroom, students were dissecting owl pellets while others were running experiments. Next door, students were being taught mathematics using interactive, tangram-like learning tools.
The program offers core courses in science, math, English, and social studies as well as elective courses in practical arts, life skills, technology, health-based instruction, and real world career connections.
Due to Star Academy being in both the middle and high school, it aids in students’ eighth to ninth grade transition.
“One of our greatest goals with implementing the Star Academy at the middle level first was to focus on helping students make the critical transition from middle school to high school,” said Superintendent Dr. Crissie Stapleton.
“Because the program utilizes a hands-on, project-based learning approach, we have seen that it re-engages students and prepares students for future success in high school and beyond. We were so blessed to be able to implement the program at the high school as well so we could help students who may not have been able to benefit from the program when they were in middle school,” said Dr. Stapleton.
Star Academy was created in 2005 and has been implemented in more than 50 middle and high schools across the country. To learn more about the program, visit https://staracademyprogram.com.
