Students Learn From Classroom To Real World

Students with the building trades program at Oskaloosa High School work on framing up the most recent Habitat for Humanity home in Oskaloosa.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – In a partnership with Mahaska County Habitat for Humanity, several Oskaloosa High School students got the opportunity to bring what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world applications.

Kristen Bandy has been helping students make that connection, and with the help of the building trades program, the idea took root to work with manufacturing businesses in town to help build a Habitat for Humanity home.

“The main idea is to help the high school students understand what they are doing in the classroom connects to lots of different careers out in the world,” said Bandy.

Kristen Bandy is married to Oskaloosa High School Principal Stacy Bandy, who has been a big advocate of Project Based Lessons.

“With Project-Based Lessons, the students are working on standards within their content area, trying to show teachers that they have mastered those things,” said Stacy Bandy in a previous interview with Oskaloosa News.

Kristen Bandy said she believes that the desire to show students the work they were doing in the classroom had real-world application came about for OHS, and to know that not every kid is made for a two or four-year degree. “A lot of kids want to graduate from high school and then go out and make a good living somewhere that they have the type of lifestyle that they want to have. The trades are a huge open field right now. Once you graduate from high school, if you’re training, which might be a certificate, it’s those trade programs that can make you that living wage that you want to do, without the huge college debt.”

“In today’s workforce, there’s a lot more trades opening and the need for that, and I think Stacy saw that; and you’ve heard it from the governor and the state,” added Kristen Bandy.