Hillsboro graduate impacting education
Lead Summary
By
-
By Caitlin Ryan
The Highland County Press
A Hillsboro High School graduate is changing the education system in an Orlando, Fla. neighborhood, as he co-founded a private school that is gaining national attention.
Nathan Smith, along with co-founder Danita Jones, formed The Human Experience, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) private middle school, which recently ended its first school year.
Smith, a 2005 graduate of HHS and a 2007 graduate of Wilmington College, grew up in Highland County from the time he was 2. Smith was a manager at Star Cinemas for five years and also worked at the Hillsboro KFC, along with student teaching at Hillsboro High School.
After graduating from WC, Smith taught in Clermont County for two years, working at Goshen High School and Middle School.
Smith and his wife, Jillian (Beery), moved to Orlando in 2007 “for a change of scenery,” where Smith became employed as a groundskeeper at their apartment complex until getting a job teaching sixth grade reading at a local middle school.
“I was there for two years, and I had my current students as fourth- and fifth-graders at that school,” Smith said. “They were moving into middle school, and the middle school there was struggling. There were reports of violence and drugs. A lot of my students had older brothers and sisters who went to those schools and knew what they were like.”
Smith and Jones were moved to action after reading the young students’ reactions to starting sixth grade.
“They were prepared to go to school, but not in the way most students are prepared,” Smith said. “Most kids have pencils, pens, paper and are good to go. My kids were prepared to fight.”
Smith said that the students were asked in their journals to describe their thoughts on advancing to middle school from “a social, academic and emotional standpoint.”
“Reading some was very impactful,” Smith said. “Many of them were afraid. Many of them were worried that their lives were going to change in a negative sense.”
Smith said that he and Jones asked themselves, “What can we do to help them?”
“One conclusion we came to eventually was to start a school,” Smith said.
With the help of volunteers and parents, Smith and Jones operate the school, splitting teaching duties and working at their own expense. They began their first year with 20 sixth-grade students, 17 of whom were their former students.
Smith and Jones separate the teaching duties, as he teaches humanities (reading, language arts, social studies and Spanish) and she teaches math, science, health and physical education.
The Human Experience is different from traditional classrooms, with an extended schedule and an unconventional approach to classroom learning. Students sing, dance, rap, beat on their desks and move around throughout the day “to get energy out,” Smith said.
“Kids have trouble standing still, whether they’re in Highland County or Orange County, and a lot of teachers ask kids to sit and listen,” Smith said. “That’s not the way a lot of kids learn. They need to move and get energy out.”
Students go to school from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. five days a week, 11 months a year.
“Part of the reason we have an extended day and year school is so kids could get extra remediation,” Smith said. “It’s also so we have more time to invest in the kids as people.”
The school, “The Human Experience,” is so named because of its leaders’ commitment to making their students the best people they can be.
“We treat students as people and value them not just as people who perform academically, but socially and emotionally, and we get to know our students and build a relationship with them,” Smith said. “That’s one of the primary responsibilities as a teacher, and sometimes we don’t get that chance in the regular system.”
Smith said the school’s first year was “overwhelmingly positive.”
“We do things people don’t normally see in school systems, and we teach differently,” Smith said. “We have a lot of energy and a lot of passion.
“The parents of the school have been very supportive throughout the course of the year. They’re on board with us and love what we do. It’s been very cool to build relationships with our parents.”
In addition to local support, the school is getting national attention and was recently featured on “America Strong,” an ABC News segment featuring positive news stories from across the country. The video can be viewed at The Human Experience’s Facebook page.
The school anticipates educating 40 students this year, including returning students in seventh grade and a new class of sixth-graders.
“Its been transformational,” Smith said. “The kids have come so far. We have built a relationship that at a lot of schools you don’t see. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, when we’re having a bad day or a good day.
“We do a really good job of just trying to encourage each other and stay positive. It’s been really incredible.”
For more information, or to donate to The Human Experience, visit theorlando.org or facebook.com/humanexperienceorlando.