HHS students present community projects

Tylee Miller, Ainsley Duell, Makenna Reed and Kori Arnold gave a presentation last week on a city mural project for Hillsboro.
Johannah Latham, Katie Rempel, Karley Loewen and Keeley Brewer gave a presentation last week on ways to improve safety at the corner of Jefferson and Grand last week.
Front row: HHS teacher Darrell Knoll, USD 410 Superintendent Clint Corby, Tabor Faculty Staci Janzen. Back row: Hillsboro Community Foundation Chair Max Heinrichs, Hillsboro City Administrator Matt Stiles, HMHS Principal Tyler Weinbrenner. The group served as a panel of judges for student presentations on community improvements.

HHS Government class presented community improvement proposals last week.

 

Students often dream about ways that they can make their community better. But in Darrell Knoll’s Government class at Hillsboro High School, senior students actually get to see what that looks like as they choose a project and get the opportunity to make it happen.

The students recently presented to a Community Leader Shark Tank consisting of Hillsboro Community Foundation Chair Max Heinrichs, Tabor College Business Professor Staci Janzen, Hillsboro City Administrator Matt Stiles, USD 410 Superintendent Clint Corby and HMHS Principal Tyler Weinbrenner.

According to Knoll, their current class unit focuses on local government, community improvement, making proposals and presentation skills.

“It is my goal that students become familiar with our local government leaders, understand what it does, introduce possible government career paths and promote student community involvement,” said Knoll.

The class has had several speakers in their class, including Hillsboro Mayor Lou Thruston, Stiles, Marion County Clerk Tina Spencer, Brooke Carroll of the Kansas Power Pool and Janzen.

The class was broken up into groups and the groups then chose the project they wanted.

Student presentation topics included the following topics:

Dog Parks at Hillsboro Municipal Park

Hillsboro Municipal Park Restrooms

Sports Complex Restrooms

Gym Entrance Landscape Improvement

Crosswalk Safety at Tabor

Paint the Town: City Mural

Corner of Jefferson and Grand Safety

Old Towne Restoration

Sidewalk Improvement

Electric Scooters

Paint the Town: City Mural and Jefferson and Grand Safety received honors as the best presentations.

Paint the Town: City Mural group consisted of Kori Arnold, Ainsley Duell, Makenna Reed and Tylee Miller. The Corner of Jefferson and Grand Safety group consisted of Keeley Brewer, Johannah Latham, Karley Loewen and Katie Rempel.

“This project holds a lot of value because I was able to voice my opinion on something I thought was a problem. I know that at least one project is going to get chosen, and it’s cool to think that we can make a difference in our community as high school students because the city is willing to listen to us,” said Rempel.

Knoll said, “This was a highly successful project. Students benefited from this project in many ways, and I am thankful for community leaders who invest time in our students; this project would not be as successful without them.”

According to Stiles, the City of Hillsboro is going to consider acting on two or three of the proposals. The Free Press will update you on these projects as more information becomes available.

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