Students making tracks at CFHS

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series on the Clark Fork High School’s tracks program.

By MARY MALONE

Staff writer

SANDPOINT — The Clark Fork High School experiential learning track program was born of necessity seven years ago, but has since grown into much more.

“It’s a way for kids to have a chance to experience life that is not of the norm in a school setting,” said CFHS principal Phil Kemink. “It’s great — the partnerships we have made locally and outside of Bonner County … It’s been a pretty good pat on our back that other schools are mirroring us and they are experiencing success, just like we have.”

It was Clark Fork’s turn during the Oct. 22 board meeting to update Lake Pend Oreille School District officials on what is happening at the school. During the meeting, students and staff took turns detailing the seven experiential learning track programs that are now in play at CFHS. The program started all those years ago with five tracks, most of which have since changed or evolved.

Becky Haag, CFHS science teacher who leads the school’s outdoor experiential learning track, had CFHS students Joe Bopp, Ryan Matteson, Wyatt Mintken and Ryan Matteson talk about their experience with the program. The students said this year they are learning about solar energy, which included a trip to Northern Lights, Inc. They are also learning about water quality and wetland ecology, they said, and recently partnered with a Northside Elementary fifth-grade class for some water testing and water quality education on the Pack River.

Haag said they will also have the opportunity for cross country skiing, downhill skiing and hiking, she said. Bopp said they have been on hikes up Scotchman Peak, which “may not seem like a very educational thing to do,” but they learned about pacing themselves, how the climate changes with the higher altitude, and about the mountain itself and its history. Also a few years ago, he said, they helped rebuild the trails so it wouldn’t be as steep.

“It made it more enjoyable and easier for people to hike,” Bopp said, adding that there are a lot of things the CFHS students wouldn’t get to enjoy without the track program. “We get a chance to go out into the community and get a chance to work with people and get experiences that we would not gain otherwise.”

Haag was followed by CFHS English teacher Becca Palmer, who leads the independent track. Palmer said the independent track is what all the other tracks lead the students to.

“The idea is to give them all these experiences to figure out what they are interested in, to ultimately allow them to have some career exploration in the community and do some job shadowing,” Palmer said. “Independent track allows them to explore careers of interest, teaches soft skills like timeliness, communication and accountability … and connects us with the community and beyond.”

CFHS students Ellie Kiebert, Rebecca Nielsen and Aleehia Valliere helped Palmer explain the independent track by talking about their own experiences. While the track is required for seniors and ties into their senior projects, some of the younger students are approved to take it as well. Valliere said she has job shadowed at two places since her freshman year, and while she really enjoyed the first job she shadowed, she said she didn’t like the second one as much, though she did not specify what the jobs were.

“Now that I am a senior, it is helping to guide me with where I want to go, what I want to do,” Valliere said.

Kiebert, who job shadowed at the Daily Bee among other places since her sophomore year as she pursued areas of journalism and teaching, agreed with her classmate that the program gives them a way to get out into the workplace before pursuing a career.

“It opens your eyes to what you actually are interested in,” Kiebert said.

Nielsen said she has also been in the independent track since her freshman year, and said she worked with horses the past few years and decided it is not what she wants to do as a career. The independent track is not only about the experiences and the skills they learn, she said, but also about growing as a person. As a freshman, Nielsen said she was very shy, but now she can stand up and confidently give speeches in front of a room full of people.

“I would not be the person I am today without the experiential track,” Nielsen said.

Next up was CFHS economics and humanities teacher Jill Angle, who leads the healthy living track, aided by Cole Mintkin and Emily Myers.

In the healthy living track, Angle said they focus on nutrition, exercise, relationships and well-being.

During a recent track day, Myers said they went outside before the nutritionist was scheduled to come, timing themselves to see how far they could run in 15 minutes. They will test themselves again at the end of the semester, she said, to see how much they have grown in what they are trying to achieve. With the nutritionist, they began researching healthy meals and were planning on doing some shopping to make some of the meals.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.