Rural Ohio students get creative to complete graduation project that prepares them for life

Seniors at a rural high school in southeastern Ohio are gearing up for the future through a program that requires students to design a project that helps them prepare for life outside high school, Karen Kasler reports for Statehouse News Bureau. The 35 seniors at Federal Hocking High School in Athens County spend a minimum of 100 hours on the project "coming up with the ideas, researching and designing them and seeking help outside the school." (Kasler photo: Willie Marks won Best in Show for this futon he built out of trees he cut down.)

Students "have to defend their idea to faculty before they do it and then describe how they did it once it’s done," Kasler writes. "Then they show off their projects to the community with multi-media presentations featuring photos, video and props. The requirement is to spend a hundred hours on it, but many far exceed that."

Supt. George Wood told Kasler, “Every one of these kids are going to be our neighbors. They’re going to pay taxes. They’re going to make decisions about what goes on in our community. They better be able to do this kind of work. And I’m pretty confident our kids can.”

Projects ranged from rebuilt trucks, tractors and race cars, photography exhibits, a computer game, a video series on surviving in the wilderness, a local history exhibit, a lined fishing pond, a horse pen and a futon made out of wood from a tree the student chopped down. (Read more)