Coldwater High School’s Engagement Day shared the interest of student teachers

COLDWATER — Coldwater High School students didn’t have academics Wednesday morning. Instead, they participated in a special Engagement Day to foster connections between students and staff outside the classroom.

The gyms housed volleyball and pickleball. Outside, it was girls soccer.

While it may have seemed like students were fooling around in the classrooms, the card games, chess matches, and other activities were serious.

Coordinating social studies teacher Karen Kiss explained that the students were only in school Wednesday morning. The school has scheduled parent-teacher conferences for the afternoon.

No cellphones or computers were allowed, “so the kids can just connect with each other and connect with the staff in a different way than they normally do in the classroom,” she said.

Two weeks ago, the teachers gave Kiss a list of 60 different activities, including puzzles, trivia, karaoke, card games, sports, crafts, euchre, tie-dye and more.

When the doors opened at 7:20 a.m., students ran to get passes for the activities they wanted to attend.

Kiss said: “It’s like a Taylor Swift concert. When the tickets are gone, they’re gone.”

Students participated in a different activity each of the four hours, with most changing each hour.

Kiss said, “We learn from each other, we learn from our personal, our hobbies, our interests, and take them out of technology for today.”

Kiss’ first session made Taylor Swift bracelets and the boys made them for their mothers.

In her next class, Kiss hosted kickball outside.

Kiss said, “We can kind of show them the things we like to do outside of school and hopefully draw them in a little bit.”

The event, which runs for three years, is held once in the fall and then again in February so that students attending the Career Center in the branch area can participate in the morning.

Contact Don Reid: [email protected]