School’s final exam is a rite of passage

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(Host) Compass School in Westminster was founded by a group of parents and community members who believed that some kids learn better outside of a traditional classroom setting.

The school offers an alternative to the region’s bigger union district high schools and middle schools. It aims to create a climate that adapts to each student’s learning style and gives an individualized approach to learning.

So maybe it’s not surprising that the school’s equivalent of a final exam is a very personal occasion – as VPR’s Susan Keese reports.

(Keese) It’s one of the last work days before Senior Round Tables start at the Compass School, and the seniors are using the time to prepare. In the open space every body here calls the big room, they work quietly with teachers and advisors, or sprawl on the floor, lost in their laptops.

Senior Hannah Venman-Clay is sitting at a table with some friends, taking a momentary break from her computer.

(Clay) "Right now I’m trying to put together my writing collection for my portfolio, which is just a way for the school to see how good of a writer you are really and if they’re able to let you off into the world as a writer."

(Keese) The sense of being vetted for the real world is there as the seniors prepare for schools final educational ritual: the Round Table.

Each graduating senior here prepares many portfolios of work to show his or her progress and accomplishments in different areas of understanding. Eric Rhomberg Directs the School:

(Rhomberg) "And they need to present this to a committee that includes their parents, board members from the school, teachers their advisor, outside community members and it’s almost like a dissertation defense. They need to present themselves as being prepared for graduating.

It’s also a celebration of what they’ve accomplished. It’s a rite of passage."

(Keese) For Venman-Clay, the prospect is nerve wracking, even though she’s already been accepted at Goucher College.

(Hannah) "It’s a lot of stuff you have to do but it’s like at the same time really motivating because you really want to graduate, and this process is so amazing. I mean for me, I’m reflecting on the past six years of my life."

(Keese) Those six years have included a wider variety of experiences than most schools offer: student teaching in a local elementary school – Venman-Clay hopes to be a teacher. She’s worked on a film, an interned at a program in Washington DC for teens with HIV.

For the past three years the whole junior class has traveled to Mexico and Arizona — after studying border issues.

Venmen-Clay’s friend Alison Appel, a fellow senior, pipes in:

(Appel) "And we talked to different people on both sides of the issue (Corey) And it really connected everything you learned in the classroom, with a really personal and human aspect to the whole thing."

(Keese) Corey Brook-Debock graduated last year and is back visiting after a year at college.  Brook-deBock’s senior project was a photo essay taken during a road trip to small Eastern seaboard towns. Appel worked on a farm in California, and also created a comic book version of Othello.

Director Eric Rhomberg says Compass uses projects, travel and community involvement as well as classroom learning to get kids engaged.

(Rhomberg) "What we’re trying to do is find the keys to activating students to reach their full potential."

(Sound of kids, trying to tie another kid’s tie)

Laughter. "You want me to do it?.."  "You go around the front… and then wrap it around…"

(Keese) A few days later, the Roundtables are in full swing. A young man named Max is first. A group of underclassmen gather round him helping with a tie he’s chosen for the occasion.

(Kids) "There you go! Good luck."

 (Boy) "Buen Suerte Max. Thanks."

(Keese) After about an hour and a half Max and his committee emerge smiling. While his well wishers enjoy the cake his mom has brought, Hannah Venman Clay’s family is assembling as well as Compass faculty and an educator from Bennington College to represent an outside voice.

 She starts by reading the essay that sums up her educational experience:

(Venmen-Clay) "Before coming here I got lost in the crowd and did not stand out in any particular way. But now I know who I am and that in the years to come I will change some more…."

(Keese) Venmen- Clay hands out her portfolios and people pour over her poems and projects and essays. Someone asks about a project that didn’t succeed and she explained what she learned from that experience.

(Keese)  Then it’s over

(Voice) "Congratulations, you’ve passed your senior round table.

(Applause)

(Keese) Venman-Clay’s mother Susan says she’s convinced.

(Venman-Clay) "Today I saw absolutely that Hannah is ready to make a success of her life in whatever way she defines success.

Then she adds, Don’t you wish someone had done this for you when you were finishing high school?"

For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.

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