WVU's Science Adventure School prepares middle schoolers for high school and life beyond

Sep. 29—FAIRMONT — Amari Terry, a sixth grader from West Fairmont Middle School, spent this week catching crawdads, practicing archery and rock climbing.

Yesterday, while fishing for crawdads in a creek, Jaxon Denhan, one of Terry's classmates, declared, "This is my favorite way to do science, outside!"

Terry and Denhan and 66 other West Fairmont Middle School students weren't just trapping crawfish or firing arrows for fun.

It was part of a structured experience held through the Science Adventure School, a program organized through West Virginia University that exposes sixth graders to the practical side of science. It's a bid to expand their horizons and think in much more expansive terms of what it actually means to be a scientist. It's also the first year that Marion County Schools has participated in the program.

"Science Adventure School is a program that was truly designed to help our youth here in West Virginia become better and more successful students and to have a better chance at a successful life," Ali Jeney, director of the program, said. "We do that through adventure sports, STEM education, but the bottom line is we want to turn out students who are confident, who have skill sets when it comes to solving problems and are citizens of their school and home communities."

Students traveled to Fayetteville, West Virginia for the program.

Science Adventure School is offered free of charge to sixth graders across the state. It's a 4- day, 3-night trip that students spend camping outdoors. Rather than teaching science from a book, students learn by performing experiments in their environment. A little bit of engineering is also thrown in, as students learn how a belay mechanism works for rock climbing.

"We're up at 6:30 in the morning and they go to bed at 9:30," June Haught, principal of West Fairmont Middle School, said. "They're outside the entire time. They're tenting on cots, no electricity, but they're having a great time though. Building relationships. They have discussions and they play games where they work as a team to complete the tasks we've given. It's a wonderful opportunity for the students. And they were able to go completely free."

Jeney said the approach they use teaches students how things work before students get to use them. For example, before students are allowed to use a bow, they're taught about the cams and tackle system that make up a modern bow. It also is a way for students to learn about the environment and the impact that they can have on it through pollution.

Part of Science Adventure School's mission is to also help quash brain drain out of West Virginia.

"A lot of what this program seeks to address is the brain drain issue," Blake Flessas, lead environmental educator, said. "in West Virginia, kids are growing up and being told that if you're smart, there's nothing for you here and you have to leave to have a successful career or go into a very specific field. And there's a lot of resistance to stem into the sciences within student perception, of what science means. And our goal is to broaden students' understanding of what it can mean to be in STEM."

Jeney said Haught told her that sixth grade is the best time to form those connections, because the kids haven't formed any negative stereotypes or stigmas yet. At the same time, they're old enough to begin appreciating more complex conversations.

Kristin DeVaul, supervisor of secondary Curriculum and Instruction and policies for Marion County Schools, coordinated the program for the entire school system. She said the most important aspect that Science Adventure School teaches is how to work with others, which is an important skill employers look for.

"We're teaching our students in Marion County Schools transferable skills that will make them successful when they walk across the stage at the end of their senior year, regardless of what path they go down," she said.

Science Adventure School has a twin component that is just as important as the STEM side. Ensuring middle schools and high schools retain students all the way into graduation. In a way, Science Adventure School acts as a prep school for middle school, teaching students the skills they'll need to be successful throughout the journey to high school. Jeney said building grit and perseverance in their students leads to a greater likelihood that they can make it through challenging situations, up to and including substance abuse.

"If we can get our students to recognize that failing is fine and it's oftentimes a pathway to success," Jeney said, "Then we can get students to walk up to a really challenging math problem or difficult book to read and say, 'Yeah, this is hard, but I can do it.'"

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com