Projects and Initiatives
I have been fortunate to work alongside talented educators and administrators who have collaborated with me and empowered me to design, develop, and deploy innovative learning opportunities.
As a building administrator, I have been able to draw from these experiences to improve and grow the capacity of a school. Below, is a digital portfolio of selected projects and initiatives that I have developed for students and schools.
01
Government in Action
Empowering Students to Authentically Innovate
Background
The Government in Action Project was a collaboration with multiple community partners including the Johnson County Indiana Emergency Services, the Town of Whiteland, and the Johnson County Indiana Historical Museum.
The project was borne out of tragedy. A tornado ripped through the community and the town had no well developed disaster recovery plans. My Government class stepped up--they innovated a community disaster management plan that was presented to the Town.
The class and project was awarded the Prize for Innovation in Civics Education by the Association of Indiana Municipalities and attracted the attention and a visit from a Regional Director of FEMA.
The Project
Representatives from the community partners came to the school and presented the students with an authentic problem facing the community.
Projects included: The towns first public park, a new Rail Trail, A comprehensive Downtown Redevelopment Plan, a flood management proposal, A Proposal for a new Museum Exhibit, and the aforementioned Disaster Recovery Plan.
Students partnered with professionals from the organizations who mentored and helped guide their project development. Students worked in competitive project groups to innovate and engineer solutions to their problem. Groups created a Proposal, Prototype solution, Verbal Presentation, and Supplemental slide deck. Students pitched their proposals to a team of representatives from the organization.
Takeaways
What is clear is that students will rise to the occasion if given the opportunity. Innovative, authentic, and ambitious projects that go beyond the textbook and lectures will be rewarded with students who demonstrate enthusiasm and effort.
While this project was completed by High School Students, the project was based on an earlier iteration a previous school where teams of Middle Schoolers innovated solutions to engineering problems presented to them by project managers from surrounding private industries.
Proactive management while also increasing Student Agency
02
Securely Pass
Background
Students can not be effective learners if they are not engaged in the classroom. Students who find ways to disengage from learning by loitering in the restroom and other off-task behaviors negatively effect not only their education but the education of others.
Manipulation of passes leads to misbehavior in unstructured parts of the school and contributes to physical fights, vaping, and other policy violations.
Faced with a new school and identifying the need for policies and systems around managing hall passes and behavior, I deployed a digital Hall pass system.
The Initative
Securely is a cost effective digital hall pass system that allows administrators the ability set occupancy limits for key areas of the school, including restrooms. Administrators may also set limits on students daily pass totals or global number of students out of class at any given time. Administration can also set up pass blocking to ensure that known students can not be approved for passes at the same time--providing a proactive solution to a known behavioral threat.
Students may request passes from their devices discretely and without interrupting the flow of the class. Teacher may approve passes from their devices or directly from the students devices to minimize class disruption as well.
The pass tracks the time the student is out of class and sends alerts to the administration if the pass runs too long so that someone can redirect the student
Takeaways
Securely has been an amazing addition to our school. The system generates volumes of data that can be used to determine pass usage and how to provide supports for students. The number of students wandering the halls has dropped significantly, we experience less disruption and vandalism in the restrooms, and we have eliminated large groups of students loitering in the restrooms.
03
The Daily Buzz
Fostering the development of Student Led Media
Background
A course at school called "Recap" was/is responsible for planning and executing a quarterly Student Assembly to highlight key moments and successes. It was an underutilized program. I challenged the class to develop a plan for expanding the program to include a daily announcement news show.
The Initative
Students in Recap have risen to the occasion. A team of student journalists have developed. They are producing what they are calling, "The Buzz" daily and posting to our school Youtube Channel. The show is entirely student planned, produced, and edited.
The Program is starting to expand into a more Studio setting complete with built set. The school is investing in a professional camera, microphones, and lighting. Students are developing a partitioned page of the school website to create their own web presence. Students are planning more ambitious segments and expanding reporters duties to include specialized beats.
Students are expanding and refining their journalistic skills and proficiency at public speaking. Students are investigating attendance at the Fall 2026 Student Journalism Conference in Orlando, Florida.
The next step will be expanding the program to include print media. We are starting to build relationships with the local newspaper who still controls their own printing. Students will be able to produce a real newsprint paper covering local events. Students will learn the business of the media and design/sell advertising for their respective publications. We are also reaching out to Vermont Public to seek partnership and mentorship so that students can become an outlet for local news.
Takeaways
In a moment when educational programming is shrinking, people with ambition and vision are able to rethink how we approach education. Finding community partnerships and ways to provide authentic learning opportunities is a hallmark feature of my approach to school leadership.
Schools that can provide unique and real experiences will become a draw to families and develop a sustainable enrollment model in a time of increasingly decline in student population.
Creating Authentic Student Voice and Agency in Their School
04
Student Government
Background
Students are a key school demographic. They are a schools population. Their input into their environment is critical. Giving students a voice in the operations of their school increases student buy-in to the school. It grants ownership and a stake in the success of our school community.
In College, I was a Director in the Executive Branch of our Student Government. Modeling a High School version of a Collegiate Student Government shifts the paradigm of what is possible in a school community.
The Initative
The redesigned Student Government goes beyond the traditional Student Council or Class Officer model of other High School student representation. In those models, the Student Council is merely a body to organize events. In my model, Student Government is fully developed and functional government complete with Three Branches of Government.
The Student Government is authorized by a comprehensive Student Constitution signed by the original delegates to a Constitutional Convention and approved by the Principal. The Constitution outlines the Rights and Responsibilities of a student, including a first of it's kind enumeration of student rights within their school.
The Constitution creates a bicameral Student Congress. Juniors and Seniors compose the Student Senate and Freshman, Sophomores, and Representatives from our Middle School create the Student Council. Congress researches, originates ideas, and passes resolutions.
The Executive Branch includes the Student Body President. Former Class Officers have been rebranded Class Secretaries and form the Cabinet. The President is a integrated member of selected school committees as the student Representative. The President delegates key event planning and initiatives to the appropriate Class Secretary to plan in coordination with the Faculty Class Sponsor.
We are also forming a formal Student Judiciary. A bench of Student Justices serves as a check on the other branches and can mediate student conflicts in certain situations. We are investigating opportunities to provide formal restorative justice training for the students themselves to expand the program.
Takeaways
Students have embraced with excitement the ability to run their own government. Elections were competitive and well presented during the campaign. Students are learning the basics of Roberts Rules of Order. The President has managed to successfully guide her flagship initiative through the bill process and will soon be working with the administration on deployment.
Students are building capacity to make the school their own and build a culture of ownership and investment in our community.
05
HoCo Redesign
Creating Spaces and Events that grow School Spirit
Background
Generating energy, excitement, and novel experiences improves student culture and outcomes. Marketing your school is not limited to just potential students, but also to your current population. We are in an age of major Corporations building office spaces overflowing with warm lighting, casual spaces, and creature comforts that blend a relaxed environment with productive spaces. Schools can emulate this space design in our schools.
Creating both an immersive physical environment and well planned school events shifts the mindset of students away from school as merely a place where you have to go and towards school as a place I look forward to go to.
In that spirit, I took one step towards redesigning our homecoming events this year.
The Initative
Our Homecoming this year took our dance to a different level. Dances can be risky, and badly in need of modernization--if your not careful, you get an empty dance floor with a bunch of awkward kids hugging the walls on their phones.
Instead this year, we turned the dance into an event. I own and brough my own full sized commercial bounce house--which was a massive hit. We had a fire ring with S'mores. We had various yard games such as corn hole set up. I brought a game system so that students could go head to head with each other. On top of all of that, we had our dance. The entire event was a resounding success.
This is but the start of future plans for homecoming. My vision is to emulate thee best college homecoming celebrations have to offer. My vision includes creating a multi-day slate of events each evening culminating in the Game and Dance. Live Music. Alumni Events. Parades. Homecoming should be an event that brings the community together and provides an opportunity to show our taxpayers what great things we are building with their support.
Takeaways
This years event was a step in the right direction. It was proof of concept for future growth. Celebrating our community and inviting them into our celebrations is both a good PR policy and maximizes the celebrants, especially in small communities.
Students who are proud of their school, feel comfortable, and are immersed in an environment are more likely to choose positive choices and outcomes.
06
HHB Streamline
Ensuring A Safe School Community
Background
Schools deserve the behaviors they tolerate. Schools that do not enforce our community expectations become predatory environments for many students. Students start not feeling safe when instances of Hazing, Harassment, and Bullying are not properly investigated or ignored. Not only is it illegal and exposes the school to lawsuits, ignoring HHB has a massive impact on school culture.
The HHB process is involved and digitizing the process into a standardized process in Google Drive made the process easier, more understandable, and reduced mistakes.
The Initative
I had very little HHB experience at the start of the year. Simultaneously, trying to get trained on state and local policies, determining how issues were handled in previous years, and having Complaints to investigate at the start of the year placed a great amount of pressure to develop an efficient workflow.
As a result, I digitized all the recommended forms and turned them into an easy to complete series of Google docs and forms. The forms are organized and respond to the choices of the responder. A template folder was created so that when a Complaint was received and a determination was made to move forward, all I had to do was copy the folder and send all the relevant blank documents to the investigator that I assigned.
Takeaways
Standardizing the forms, workflow, and practices surrounding HHB creates a more safe school environment. It ensures that investigators are doing their job with fidelity and reflectively. It communicates to all stakeholders, especially those involved in the process, that the school takes maintaining a safe school environment seriously. Those who feel they have been a victim leave the process feeling heard and taken seriously. Those who have potentially violated school policies clearly see that Bullying and Harassing behavior will not be tolerated in our community.