{"id":1042,"date":"2014-12-01T10:35:15","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T18:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideout.insidewp.test\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2014-12-01T10:35:15","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T18:35:15","slug":"sunny-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2014\/12\/01\/sunny-san-diego\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

If only ACS was located in San Diego. Granted, we\u2019d have to change our name to San Diego Christian School. We\u2019d also have a terribly large part of our budget paying for the commute, we would have issues with international visas to attend SDCS, and a lot of people would have to relocate. But boy, it sure would be nice. Sunshine, 20 degrees, palm trees, and the beach\u2014and that describes the San Diego winter! Sign me up!<\/p>\n

When I went to San Diego in early October with 5 other ACS staff to visit High Tech High (HTH) and to participate in the Education Leadership Academy, I was awestruck by the beauty, warmth, and sunshine of the environment, even though we were kept so busy during course work and tours that we only saw the sunrise and then the sunset on the first day. During the second day of our visit\/work, we were able to eat our lunch outside, and while I forgot my sunglasses at the hotel (Note to self: bring sunglasses from hotel), the early October heat (instead of fog and drizzle) was a welcome change.<\/p>\n

High Tech High<\/a>\u00a0operates 11 schools across San Diego and excels at educating students in 21st century, project-based learning.\u00a0As I wandered the halls, I was very impressed with the incredible amount of artwork (both 2-D wall hangings and 3-D works) on display in all of the HTH buildings. \"washroom\"<\/a>The quality of student creativity<\/span><\/strong> that was intentionally shown to visitors was lovely. Every space on campus was used as a place to demonstrate student achievement \u2013 even the men\u2019s room at the high school had paintings above the urinals (how I got pictures of that art work is another story). I\u2019m not sure what you think, but I would love to have even more of our ACS work (whether art or otherwise) on display for the community.<\/p>\n

Another element of HTH that impressed me was their strong integration of head and hands<\/strong><\/span>. They do not simply want to be an academic school, nor do they simply want to be a trades-prep school; rather, they work very intentionally to make all of their projects both academically rigorous and technically demanding while striving to contribute back to their community. I really appreciate their recognition that students are more than \u201cbrains on a stick\u201d<\/strong><\/span> or \u201chands made for a task\u201d! They were also working very hard to make education accessible for all students<\/strong><\/span> in their particular socioeconomic context.<\/p>\n

Yet despite my initial positive impressions of HTH\u2019s environs, artwork, and integration, I felt there was a critical element missing from their school culture. The team I travelled with mused about this as well, and we recognized a number of things that ACS is doing excellently that were missing from HTH:<\/p>\n