Red Knights Engage With the Real World
Historically, educators could count on hearing students complain, “when are we ever going to need this?” Benilde-St. Margaret’s is intentional about designing curriculum, courses, programs and partnerships that answer that question and give students a window into their future as citizens of our world.
In many classes and clubs, teachers embed authentic activities. In social studies, teachers use simulations of trials, elections, or government committees. World language students write bilingual books and donate them to elementary schools. Religion classes use service learning and advocacy projects to connect students to agencies striving to improve the world.
Courses such as Journalism, Biomedical Sciences, Principles of Investing, Coding & Agile Development, Engineering and others are completely designed to simulate real world processes, leverage real world tools and connect students to external professional partners. Students learn what it’s like to collaborate in designing and implementing solutions to authentic problems.
Building on our success creating authentic experiences for students, we are working to increase and improve our partnerships with real world professionals, setting up job shadows, internships and collaborative learning at businesses, in the school and in other real world settings. Some new opportunities in recent years:
- Business students use their creativity at the University of St. Thomas’s Entrepreneurship Day. They tackle real world needs using design thinking strategies.
- Junior high students attend Model United Nations in New York City where they negotiate for consensus on pressing global issues and sit in the UN General Assembly to vote.
- BioMed students spend a day at Excelen Orthopedic Center where they practice surgical techniques and talk to professional medical personnel.
- Sports Marketing students get an inside glimpse at the Timberwolves organization learning about several aspects of the business from the professionals.
We know there are plenty of other opportunities to connect our Red Knights with the world beyond the classroom. If you would like to help create more of these partnerships for students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, contact Steve Pohlen at 612-618-2419 or firstname.lastname@example.org.