ABOVE: DHS Future Problem Solvers Faculty Advisor Lori Woods greets local industrial leaders/Vermilion Advantage members prior to explanation from FPS students on this school year’s Project Future Forward effort.
The Future Problem Solvers at Danville High School are once again state champs for this school year’s project. A trip to internationals at Indiana University is coming up in June. The Future Problem Solvers are a competitive team that identifies problems, and works on finding solutions. Previous projects have included building special gardens for Veterans, and uplifting the teachers in our area with various activities and recognition.
This school year, they created something new right within the Danville High School walls. They modified a classroom into a College and Career Readiness Lab, designed to help students prepare for their futures. For this first year of Project Future Forward, the main goal was giving students extra resources to look into college opportunities; from ACT and SAT preparation; to going through FAFSA, and everything else that involves applying to college.
Prior to Friday (April 12th) morning’s presentation in the Danville City Council Chambers, in front of numerous local industrial leaders and hosted by Vermilion Advantage CEO Mike Marron, faculty advisor Lori Woods said this was a matter of taking a more organized and stepped up approach to college preparation.
AUDIO: Kids in suburban areas, with definitely more affluent parents; pay out the nose for it. And our kids don’t have that opportunity. And so we have all of that now, so that’s pretty exciting.
Students from throughout Vermilion County are also invited to special events in the College and Career Readiness Lab, such as an upcoming visit from the Principal Scholars program at the University of Illinois.
(1st Picture) Vermilion Advantage CEO Mike Marron welcomes local industrial leaders to Future Problem Solvers’ presentation in the City Council Chambers. (2nd Picture) Future Problem Solvers team prepares to describe slide show explaining the “Protect Future Forward” effort. (3rd Picture) DHS FPS members Cameron Feuerborn (L) and Matthew Sherman (R) address the audience.
Future Problem Solvers students Cameron Feuerborn, Kendall Rannedarger, and Matthew Sherman all shared thoughts on the success of year one of the special lab.
AUDIO: (Cameron Feuerborn) I think this gives them a lot more of an opportunity than normal. It lets them see what is out there, and what they can go into. And a lot of people didn’t really get this picture, and now they can expand on what they want to do out of high school.
AUDIO: (Kendall Rannedarger) Students have been very happy to be able to have the more opportunities, and be able to improve SAT scores and things. Because that’s what the junior program was mostly working on was SAT scores. People have been very receptive of it.
AUDIO: (Matthew Sherman) Because it helps us prepare for the PSAT and the SAT. And then come senior year, it’ll help us fill out a lot of college applications, and career bound applications as well. So it definitely helps out a lot.
And speaking of career bound applications, questions from the local industrial leaders afterwards definitely showed a desire to make more connections with todays students for possible future employees. Lori Woods says that while this year’s work mostly involved the college preparation part, next year’s could perhaps focus more on those connections with local industry. So there’s a good chance the Future Problem Solvers will extend Project Future Forward into the next school year.
As for the upcoming international competition, Woods and her students will be leaving the day after Memorial Day, stopping in Washington, D.C. to see the White House and Congresswoman Robin Kelly’s office, and then making their way to the conference in Bloomington, Indiana starting June 5th.
