Panel Review Presentations

 

June 2018

 

By Matt McCarty

Staff writer

 

Russellville’s yearlong Russellville Ready pilot program culminated in early May when about 20 seniors each gave a PowerPoint presentation to a panel of business leaders, district staff and a school board member to tell why they were ready to graduate.

“I thought it was really great for them to be able to get up in front of a group like this. Not just their teachers, but business leaders in the community. It says a lot for the students themselves,” said panelist Jeff Manly, who works for a bank in Russellville. 

“We told the kids, ‘Share your story. You are your best storyteller,’” Russellville Independent Superintendent Bart Flener said. “Sometimes it’s hard for us to even think about what we’ve learned. We’re just trying to get a score on a test and move on. This gives them a real chance to have a real-life reflection on progress that they made through their schooling experience.”

Manly said the soft skills the students displayed during the presentations, including their eye contact and presentation skills, are what they need when they get into the workforce, and “to be able to do that at their age says a lot.”

Luis Pacheco-Ramirez, a standout soccer player for Russellville, told the panel his goal was to earn an athletic scholarship to pursue postsecondary education and eventually become a lawyer to help his hometown in Mexico.

He shared with the panel his determination to improve his ACT score. For four months he worked every day after school with a math teacher and an English teacher. His ACT improved from a 15 to a 22 and he earned a soccer scholarship to Union College.

“It was one of the best moments of my life,” Pacheco told the panel.

 

the panel review as part of the district’s Russellville Ready pilot program.

Mandy Henley, the president of the local chamber of commerce, said the presentations were better than she expected.

“I figured we’d see a lot of students who kind of participate in everything, your typical 4.0ers,” Henley said. “But to come and see all the different walks of life, the different GPAs, the different kids that come and do this, I was very impressed.”

She said it addresses the concern that schools in general don’t teach real-world issues or real-world scenarios that kids need to know.

Panelists used a rubric, based on all the requirements the students had to meet throughout the year, to score the presenters.

The panelists followed up with questions, mostly about the students’ skills and strengths.

“I didn’t really envision it that way, didn’t think there would be those types of exchanges with question-answer, but I think it’s what made it such a successful day,” said Cassie Reding, Russellville’s literacy coach. “It allowed us all to know more about the student and it gave us as educators some really neat perspectives of our community members and our business leaders in terms of what they want to know about our students as an individual person.” 

 

Russellville students demonstrate they're Ready for college, workforce