Episode 71: 25 Years of the SV Graduation Project: A Review with Dr. Matt McKinley

SHOW TOPIC
25 Years of the SV Graduation Project: A Review with Dr. Matt McKinley

SPECIAL GUEST
Dr. Matt McKinley, Seneca Valley Assistant Superintendent for 7-12 Instruction

Dr. Matthew McKinley serves as Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Instruction, grades 7-12. Prior to his assistant role, he served for six years as principal of the Seneca Valley Senior High School. He also served as assistant principal of the Seneca Valley Senior High School and as a mathematics teacher at the same building for six years. Prior to coming to Seneca Valley, Dr. McKinley taught as a mathematics teacher at Mercer Area Junior/Senior High School.

Dr. McKinley earned his bachelor of art’s degree in mathematics from Grove City College and obtained his Master of Education degree and his Doctor of Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. McKinley developed the Academy of Choice Program in the district, which includes a growing cyber program and a one-of-a kind performing arts department. He is also author of the Seneca Valley Random Drug Testing Policy, which has been lauded locally as well as nationally and was cited as a model program by the White House Drug Policy Council.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
•  What the Graduation Project is.
•  The history behind the Graduation Project.
•  Why the Graduation Project is a requirement for SV seniors.
•  How students benefit and the overall goal of the Graduation Project.

Transcript

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

00:00:02:26 - 00:00:10:11
Welcome to Voices, a national award-winning podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District. 

00:00:11:07 - 00:00:21:29
Jeff Krakoff: This is Jeff Krakoff. Today we're talking with Dr. Matt McKinley, Assistant Superintendent of secondary instruction, which covers grades 7-12. Thanks for joining us today. 

00:00:22:18 - 00:00:24:03
Matt McKinley: Thank you, Jeff. Absolutely. 

00:00:24:05 - 00:00:38:12
Jeff Krakoff: So we want to talk to you about the Graduation Project. It's been around for a while. This is the 25th year. Can you kind of give us the overview of what it is and a little bit of a historical perspective? 

00:00:38:17 - 00:01:50:08
Matt McKinley: Sure. I'd be happy to. Simply speaking, the Graduation Project is a culminating project that really encapsulates the students learning over the years, and there are different components to it. There's a writing component, speaking component, and then the project itself. Speaking of it, over time, a little over 25 years ago, the state was considering passing a mandate and bringing senior project in for all students. And we kind of like the idea. We had done some research on it previously. And so we went deeper into the research and really got into it and brought it here to Seneca Valley. Soon after that, the state did pass that mandate and we were kind of ahead of it and already had it in place. Even since that time, the state has retracted that mandate. But because of the benefits and all that, we have chosen to keep it. And we're thrilled that we're entering our 25th year with that. 

00:01:50:22 - 00:02:09:21
Jeff Krakoff: Okay. So education, educational theory I know changes every so many years. So I'm guessing over 25 years the senior project and the approach is a little bit different today. Can you talk about maybe what some of those changes are that you know of? 

00:02:10:08 - 00:03:42:06
Matt McKinley: Sure. When we started senior project, it was that it was a senior project. And now you may have noticed we're calling it the Graduation Project. Some of our students begin it earlier than their senior year. So that's one big change in some students will complete their project in the summer prior to their senior year and then follow up with other components during their senior year. So, you know, students time has become less and less I feel. Many are working, many are doing so many other activities. And so we've tried to make it a little bit more flexible. It was extremely structured when we began it, and I feel like we had to do it that way. It wasn't yet a part of our culture. And so when you're instituting something new, something big, a graduation requirement, there's a lot of questions and a lot of help that people need. So we were very specific with our instructions, with students, with our assistance for students. And that that's some of the evolution. Another thing is. That students all still have a mentor, but now they can have multiple mentors. And so we've kind of lessened the restrictions with that. So and some of the projects that we've seen are just phenomenal and they're multifaceted. So students will have a mentor for each piece of that. Those are some of the things that that have changed over the 25 years.

00:03:42:16 - 00:03:58:09
Jeff Krakoff: I just wanted to clarify for people you mentioned this started way back when it was a requirement from the state of Pennsylvania, then they rescinded. But you kept it because it's so beneficial. Today, is this a requirement for every student to graduate from Seneca Valley? 

00:03:59:04 - 00:04:09:17
Matt McKinley: It still is. It still is a requirement for our students. And like I said, we just feel like the benefits far outweigh, um, you know, any other reason.

00:04:10:05 - 00:04:15:20
Jeff Krakoff: All right, well, let's go into those. What do you see as the benefits for Seneca Valley students? 

00:04:15:27 - 00:05:48:00
Matt McKinley: Well, first and foremost, I see that students have an opportunity to choose their area of research and study. So often in classrooms you know, the teacher is saying, we need to do this, we need to do this, we need to do that. This is totally student chosen and led. They can do it from the beginning to the end. Um. I think it's great too, that they have an opportunity to display their learning over the years that they've had. And so many students take great pride in that. I see that when we when we see the presentations and all the work and effort they've put into it, they are quite proud of the work as they should be. And it's just an opportunity to kind of display that. Third, is there's you know, a relevance to what they're doing. They are making the learning as relevant as they can or want to. And we have found in education that relevance is such a strong key for strong learning and to retain all that. And lastly, I'd say that students can personalize their learning. And we see that really come out in the presentations, too. So it's really impressive. Students come, they come dressed up to the presentations and you don't always see them like that every day. And they're proud to do that. And it's just really a great thing. So that's some of the benefits for the students. 

00:05:48:08 - 00:05:58:12
Jeff Krakoff: So as an educator, how important is it, do you think, that the students get to choose and lead? They pick something they're passionate about. How big of a deal is that? 

00:05:59:12 - 00:07:03:00
Matt McKinley: I think it's a huge deal. We've really taken it in and over time we've tried to connect it where we could with careers, and now we're having even more of an emphasis on that. We have adopted five career pathways as a district, and we're using that with our program studies, but we're also utilizing that in the Graduation Project. And so students can have a clear connection with careers. And so that's one huge reason why we want them to make that choice. And it's funny because sometimes the students will go through their project and during the presentation you'll hear, it's nothing like I thought it was going to be. And I think that's such a strong lesson for them to learn what they don't want to do as opposed to what they do want to do. Yeah, and to find that out while still in high school, you know, whether they're moving on to post-secondary education, whether they're moving out in the workforce, in the military, whatever it might be, learning those lessons now is so valuable. 

00:07:03:02 - 00:07:11:10
Jeff Krakoff: Yeah. And I'm guessing by selecting various mentors, they're making connections that could be valuable down the road as well. 

00:07:11:12 - 00:07:57:18
Matt McKinley: Yeah. One thing we found is the community piece of this. It wasn't a huge emphasis at the beginning. We were just trying to get it up and running. But over time it has become such a strong part. As you mentioned, with the mentors going out, they have to find their own mentor in their field and  sign them up and work with them. The mentor signs off on their hours and on different pieces of the project. The other piece with the community involvement as we bring in community judges to sit in on the presentations and we've had such strong feedback from the community. They love coming in. They love seeing the students like this kind of showing off what they've learned over the years. And it's really worked out well with our community judges as well. 

00:07:58:02 - 00:08:07:07
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Could you share one or two examples of a Graduation Project just to make this a little bit easier for people to understand? What are these projects?

00:08:08:05 - 00:09:07:10
Matt McKinley: And I'll start with one of them. I'll try and do maybe two for you, one in the career area. Students going out and, you know, want to be a dental hygienist. So I'm going to go out. I'm going to talk to a dentist and see if I can sit in with some of the patients. It's like a job shadowing effort. And so they'll  meet ahead of time with the dentist, with the hygienist and learn about, you know, specifics about the job and what they do. They'll come to the office during certain hours, non-school hours often. And so it's on the student's own time. And they will assist sometimes as much as assisting, sometimes just observing to, you know, to the extent that they can. But they learn so much and then they learn about the follow up afterwards, the paperwork, the documentation, so many things about the job that they never knew. That's one example of a career focus. 

00:09:12:28 - 00:10:18:10
Matt McKinley: Another one that we've had is students, and they really are able to personalize this.  Students who want to do fundraiser and they you know, they have somebody in their family who may be autistic or a cancer survivor or something like that. And their heart has been touched that they want to go out and they want to raise funds for that, that organization. And some of the things we've had students raise in the tens of thousands of dollars to donate for those organizations. And maybe just the third example I'll do is one of our students who was and again, this is over time but who was able to take their graduation project when they went on to college or the university, they were able to use that to gain a position at the college as part of their resume and part of what their proof of what they could do in that field and in that area. So it just it's very exciting to see the growth that students do even during that short time of the graduation project. 

00:10:18:21 - 00:10:28:25
Jeff Krakoff: Okay. So students, they choose, they connect with mentors. They learn quite a bit. Then you mentioned they have to present to whom are they presenting? 

00:10:29:05 - 00:11:18:07
Matt McKinley: They present to our grades 7-12 staff. Our staff signs up for the different areas of interest for them. They'll sit through between 10 and 12 presentations in a day. We do it all in one day, and it's not a real long presentation, but it's focused the student presents. And then there's an opportunity for our panel of judges, whether it's our staff or the community judges that are intermingled to ask questions. And students are kind of prepared to answer the questions that they're asked. And again, we've seen we've seen some great things and some of the kids have had to practice and practice and practice to prepare for that and really see them come through strongly with that. 

00:11:18:12 - 00:11:39:24
Jeff Krakoff: Yeah, great skills. I mean, that's not an easy thing for anybody at any age presenting to a group, and especially when it's not necessarily just peers, but teachers, administrators. So, you know, the Graduation Project, if you had to state a goal or two of why the district does this, what would they be? 

00:11:41:01 - 00:12:44:01
Matt McKinley: Yeah, our goals are the learning that the kids do. We hear a lot about 21st century skills and or sometimes they're called soft skills. And when we talk to employers, that's what they emphasize. It's the communication that we've just highlighted. It's the research, it's the appropriate use of technology and all these things that students can learn over time. They're also researching in their content area, but it's these other skills that they're attaining over time and that they're utilizing in this project and displaying for all of us to see. Another great thing is, is the community piece that I mentioned, we're always striving to partner with the community in different ways. And we've seen over time that this project itself has started those bonds with the community and continue those bonds and partnerships over time. So I'd say those are two of the big things. 

00:12:44:05 - 00:12:51:21
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell us about or add to this before I let you go? 

00:12:51:23 - 00:13:55:00
Matt McKinley: Well, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the people that have been involved with this project over time, starting with our two coordinators back in the day, over 25 years ago, that really got it up off the ground and we've had a number of coordinators throughout time. These are teacher coordinators that have been in the position and now we have three outstanding coordinators and without their efforts, the current ones and the ones in the past.  This project would have died. It would have died on the vine. And we would not have it now. And so, you know, sometimes it's things are administratively led. And I can see that from my position. But so many times they're carried on by the teachers, by the kids, by their parents and think this is one example of that so many people have poured into it over time. And I think it's stronger than ever now. 

00:13:55:06 - 00:14:04:08
Jeff Krakoff: Great point. So again, this is Matt McKinley, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Instruction. Thanks so much for joining us today. 

00:14:04:10 - 00:14:06:04
Matt McKinley: Jeff, thank you very much. Thanks for the opportunity. 

00:14:06:06 - 00:14:07:03
Jeff Krakoff: All right. Take care.