Noblesville High School’s elective innovation class teaches students how to tackle real-world challenges and gives them the freedom to work with local businesses, according to NHS English teacher Jordyn Ping, who also teaches the innovation class.
Marnie Cooke, executive director of marketing and communications for Noblesville Schools, said the class was discontinued for a time before being brought back last year.
“This is my second year teaching the class, and we have a new curriculum,” Ping said. “It is a unique elective class that the public may not know we offer. It is part of the larger theme of how Noblesville Schools is passionate about providing real-world learning opportunities for students.”
Ping said the class continues to evolve, with new projects added this year, such as working with local community partners on how to improve their business. She said the class changes based on student feedback.
“Our projects this year are entirely interest-based,” Ping said. “(Last semester,) I grouped people up based on a form they filled out that explained what they want to pursue a career in and then partnered them up with their community partner. The students are interested in and care about it, but they also learn to recognize that something they do for themselves can help other people, too.”
Senior Danica Carlson said the class is important for students because it gives them free rein to use their interests to help individuals and local businesses when brainstorming project ideas.
“It is more self-paced than other classes, and Mrs. Ping does a good job of letting students take over their projects,” Carlson said. “Once I got past the fact that I didn’t have specific instructions for our projects, it has been fun to know I control the script.”
Senior Gabe Humphrey said the class allows students to explore career options and be creative.
Last semester, Carlson and Humphrey worked in a group to discover “ways to reach the gray area of advertising.” According to Humphrey, the task was to “find the middle ground of advertising between small and large companies” to help them grow their business.
This semester, the class is working on its first individual project, which is to brainstorm an idea that can help people in the “real world.” Carlson is making a cookbook for individuals looking to make single-serve meals, and Humphrey is making a budgeting plan to help individuals save money.
“I struggle with saving my money a lot, so I set a goal of what to spend, what not to spend and where to spend, and I’ve stuck to it for the longest time and saved a lot of money,” Humphrey said. “It’s been really good, and I think that it’s going to help a lot of people.”
Ping’s goal for next year is to continue giving students a say in project ideas while ensuring they learn practical skills for the future.
“It’s exciting that students recognize that they can contribute to a lot going on in the community,” Ping said. “We hit a lot of state standards in the class and are getting them many different experiences with just one project. I always want to provide something different.”
