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MARQUETTE — Every year during their last week of school, North Star Academy students get to paint, build, cook, play sports and instruments and make videos.
The activities are called “project term” and they provide students an opportunity to learn new skills, according to North Star’s Chief Executive Officer Karen Anderson.
“It’s a positive way to end the school year,” she said, adding that the projects are not just fun but also have an educational component. For instance, students who signed up for softball not only learn the game but they also learn how to calculate statistics and delve into the history of the game. This year students got to tour the Baseball Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, via video-conferencing, Anderson said.
“The cooking group is doing all the food for the graduation ceremony,” Anderson said. “They got out and shopped so they could learn the budgeting.”
Students in the cooking class worked under the guidance of Northern Michigan University culinary arts teachers learning how to predict outcomes, use the scientific method and about careers, Anderson said.
Groups of students of different ages joined their projects of choice — all aimed to inspire them to get better at teamwork, collaboration and community service.
Corra Runion, 14, of Negaunee said her group — mural painting — had a hard time working together at first.
“I think the whole thing was difficult,” she said. “We had to go through a team builder. We all learned we need to get over our ups and downs and learn to work together, otherwise we won’t get it done.”
Runion and her team had the task of painting a mural on the storage semi-trailer of the Hiawatha Music Co-op.
“It’s supposed to be a day at Hiawatha, a mural of animals,” said Chloe Adams, 17, of K.I. Sawyer. “We drew out where we’re planning on painting and we got it approved.”
Runion added that her group had to follow guidelines given by the co-op, such as including the organization’s logo.
Rebecca Marchak, 16, of K.I. Sawyer was building wooden birdhouses, benches and a doghouse — items to be donated to the D.J. Jacobetti Veterans Home and the Marquette County Humane Society, respectively.
“I actually learned how to use a saw, which I never did before,” Marchak said, adding that measuring and lining up wood pieces was difficult, but once she got used to it, working with wood became easier.
In a nature study and outdoor cooking class, Joy Bender-Hadley and her husband Cam Hadley taught their students how to fly-fish, about Native American culture, edible plants, making smoked beef jerky and hiking without leaving a trace.
“We’re trying to get the kids to appreciate nature,” Bender-Hadley said.
During the school’s graduation ceremony Thursday, students gave 15-minute presentations on their projects, including a performance by the band project and the screening of a video created by the video documentary group, Anderson said.

 

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