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Eagles Life
Micro Schools
written by: Kaitlyn Von Gunten and Alexis Helms
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iberty North High School has much to offer including a new learning system, North Nation By Design also known as NNbD. “The North Nation by Design program is an interdisciplinary, project-based approach to school. You can kind of think of it as a ‘school within a school’ since our students are attending their core classes all together with the same group of teachers. Our mission is to ‘Cultivate a community of learners to invest in themselves and society through inclusion, instruction, and innovation.’ So this really means that our program focuses on allowing our students to follow their interests and learn the curriculum through it,” teacher Christopher Becker said. Some might consider that NNbD and regular classes have moderately the same workload. Another factor is how it benefits the students. “The NNbD program allows students to take ownership of their learning since they are learning the class material through projects that they have created or helped design,” Becker said. The average day as an NNbD student is primarily the same as any other student with one big difference. “The difference between NNbD and regular classes is you stay in NNbD you stay in the same area and the same time with the same people,” sophomore Amari Englehart said. Along with NNbD, theres another program called Edge. Edge is a global micro-school located in Liberty High School. It offers project-based, handson learning and encourages students to get
Learning like we’ve never seen before
involved with different problems that are going on and come up with ideas to solve them and make a difference in their communities. Not only is Edge open for students at Liberty High School, it is also available for students at Liberty North. North students who are involved in Edge are provided shuttle transportation to and from Liberty. “In Edge, you attend your classes but it is in a more flexible manner and we do more global activism-based projects. My favorite part of Edge is probably the flexibility and that I am able to have time to work on my work independently but at the same time I can also work on projects and talk with my friends. I also like being able to go to both schools because I get to meet new people and experience new things,” freshman Addison Riemann said. At Edge, students are given the freedom to schedule their classes, have independent work time, and create projects. This can cause a different learning environment and a new way of learning for students involved. “The learning environment is kind of chaotic. Everyone is doing their own thing or working in groups so It’s very interesting. Everyone is working on something different even if it’s the same project focus. I like that we are all working on problems that the real world is experiencing and then trying to solve them,” junior Emily Goeglein said.
“The NNbD program allows students to take ownership of their learning,” teacher Christopher Becker said.
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designed by: Ava Powers
