TRAVERSE CITY — Action sports are coming to the classroom for some Traverse City high schoolers.
Traverse City Area Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved $59,398 from general funds, which includes a 10-percent contingency, for materials and training for Gone Boarding, a cross-curricular, project-based program that utilizes skateboards, longboards, surfboards and snowboards.
In the class, students conceptualize a board design, create it virtually with computer-aided design software and build it from start to finish. The company was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2012 and designed to make education “more relevant and connected to the lives of students,” according to the company website.
“This curriculum aligns with our goal of fostering a cutting-edge environment where students engage in hands-on, real-world learning,” said Dr. Jessie Houghton, chief academic officer for secondary schools.
The program provides a “unique pathway for students to apply STEM, art, and business marketing concepts in a tangible and highly engaging way,” she said.
The funding approved by the board Monday will cover the cost of curriculum licenses and foundational materials for West Senior High School and Central High School. It includes supplies and materials for 20 skateboards, 50 longboards, 35 surfboards and 30 snowboards.
The program will be available next school year in a two-hour class for up to 30 students. There are no prerequisites and it will be a full-year course, with some flexibility to switch for the second semester if it’s not a good fit, Houghton said.
It will be taught by a team of two teachers with classes in the Innovation and Manufacturing Centers at each school.
“That gives us a little safety breathing room, too, because there’s a lot of tools the kids are legit using,” Houghton said at a curriculum committee meeting on April 28.
The district is letting the instructors figure out what the best credits are for their program, she said, noting that CHS is leaning towards a physics/business blend with the option for students to sell their board, and WSH seems to be more interested in a physics/physical education course.
The curriculum is solely owned by Gone Boarding, which is the only vendor capable of delivering this specific goods and services, Houghton said in a letter included in the meeting materials.
“Their integrated service model combines unique physical components with specialized educational and technical support that cannot be replicated by other vendors, hence bypassing the traditional competitive bidding process,” she wrote.
Educators will not have to invest $60,000 every year if they decide to continue with the program, Houghton said, because of the one-time training and initial curriculum designs.
Teacher training, curriculum access, instructor support, access to industry partners and opportunities for discounts on products are also included in the packages purchased by the district. The teacher training will take place over the summer.
“We’re really excited to see what this potentially could turn into,” Houghton said.