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Progress Rolling at Southern Wells With
New Programs, Fitness Room Open to Patrons

By GLEN WERLING
Progress at Southern Wells Schools can be found in many places but none more so than in the classroom.
This year, the junior high and high school, led by high school teacher Syeve Wagner, initiated the SWIM program. SWIM stands for Southern Wells Individual mentor program.
According to Southern Wells curriculum coordinator Pat Trant, instead of the old style home rooms, for 30 minutes each day students in grades 7-12 spend time with a teacher of their choice who becomes their academic advisor.
The advisor discusses academic concerns with the students, passes out the report cards and looks over the report cards with the students and discusses areas for improvement. They also discuss classes for next year.
The academic advisors do not take the place of the guidance counselor but instead provide an additional contact person for students seeking guidance on academic matters.
Should a student raise a personal question or concern unrelated to academics, the advisor would direct the student to the guidance counselor.
In addition, for about 15 minutes of the 30 minute period, students read with their academic advisors in a unique twist to the program aimed to get all students reading.
The program was brainstormed by the Southern Wells staff after students revealed in surveys that they were looking for someone to talk to and seek advice from on academic matters, said Trant.
The program is modeled on a highly successful similar program at Whiteland High School near Indianapolis.
The key to making the program work is the students have selected the teacher they feel the most comfortable with discussing academic issues, said Trant.
The participating staff members were divided into a junior division (grades 7-8) and a senior division (grades 9-11) for this spring. The SWIM steering committee went to each class and had students make first through fifth choices of the staff members available in their division. The committee then assigned students to mentors according to the student choices with all students getting at least their 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice of mentor. Each mentor had no more than 15 students in his/her group.
The program was piloted with a great deal of success during the last nine weeks of the school year this year. Because the seniors would not be returning next year, they were not included in the program. However, seniors will be included next school year.
The plan is to continue pairing the students with their favorite teacher every year from seventh grade to graduation.
Students will be granted limited opportunities to change teachers if they wish, Trant said, with the emphasis on the word limited. In order to build a relationship between the students and the teachers one of the key elements is continuity.
Trant said another change in store at Southern Wells junior-senior high school is a switch from the four-block schedule to an eight block schedule next year.
Thorough review of test scores and performance by students has led to the conclusion that switching to an eight block schedule will raise student achievement in math and English, especially at the eighth grade level where performance over the past few years has been lower than desired.
Instead of focusing on a group of courses for 4 1/2 weeks and then switching to a different group of courses at the middle of the nine-week grade period, the focus will now be on four courses one day, followed by four different courses the next day.
For example, now a student may take science, math and social studies for 4 1/2 weeks and then switch to English, history and physical education for the remaining 4 1/2 week grade period.
Now, science, math and social studies would be taken by the student one day, followed by English, history and physical education the next. The rotation would stay the same throughout the nine-week grading period.
The effort is to improve academic achievement by keeping math and English always at the forefront, said Trant.
She noted that reaction by students to the change has been mixed, but added that the transition should actually be fairly easy.
The details of the switch are still being worked out but the schedule switch will be ready for students when they return this fall.
At the elementary school level, Southern Wells has landed an impressive $10,000 from the Indiana Department of Education to fund service learning projects.
Southern Wells has been participating in service-learning for several years, according to Trant. Programs incorporate environmental service with academic standards. Environmental service could be improving the environment for people or nature or both.
Most recently, the fourth grade cleaned up Batson Cemetery, a historic cemetery in the Southern Wells district.Teachers were able to use the project to instruct the students on history, social studies, science, math, spelling and English.
The students also received a lesson on civics as the project was coordinated with Jackson Twp. trustee Marilyn Lieurance, Marion Public Library historian Rhonda Stoffer, and Mark Davis of Hartford City, who repairs monuments.
The $10,000 grant is far and away the largest ever received by the Southern Wells service learning program since it was introduced several years ago.
In addition to performing the services and learning from them, the elementary students and their teachers fill out the forms for the mini grants that fund the projects and the grants are reviewed by the student service-learning team. That gives the students an opportunity to learn how to write grants, noted Trant.
The biggest physical change this year at Southern Wells was the opening of the Fitness Center.
The center contains $200,000 worth of fitness equipment provided free by LIFT America, a national exercise program sponsored by the National Fitness Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and the American Heart Association. LIFT America provides exercise equipment to select schools across the country.
The only string attached to the donation is the school corporation has to track the physical education progress of the students who use the equipment during physical education classes and provide the information to the Lift America Foundation.
The equipment was installed in a room adjacent to the high school gymnasium that formerly housed a weight room. The weight room was moved next door into space that formerly housed restrooms that had been used only at varsity athletic events.