30 years is a long time for life to happen. In the halls we walk, students have been given promposals,friendships have been formed, tears have been shed, and memories have been made. 30 years of trends have passed, homework has been lamented over, and success has been achieved. But as these past 30 years come to a close, we open the door to what the next 30 may bring. And 30 years is a long time for life to happen.

And AISD is aware of this. With the passing of the new bond, Bowie and surrounding schools will begin to see changes not only to the buildings themselves, but to the foundation of the programs used and the way students learn. Their approach? This is your school.

“I think student feedback is the single most important factor that can play into improving Bowie’s classes and extracurriculars,” junior Jack Fishbaugh said. “By asking our students for ways to improve their programs, we can pinpoint specific issues that administrators may not be aware of. I think adults can often underestimate the amazing abilities of high school students, and taking in their feedback would really go a long way in solving any problem Bowie might have.”

For many students, this simply includes updated facilities, such as reliable air conditioning and heating or improved bathrooms.

“Even though there’s been little renovations in the past 30 years here at Bowie, there hasn’t been a complete remodel or real modernization of this school,” principal Mark Robinson said. “So this is our opportunity to start that work, and we aren’t going to be able to finish it with what we have and this is kind of just ‘phase one,’ but I think the difference we are making is going to be substantial and I’m really excited in being able to engage teachers, parents, students, architects, and engineers in the planning.”

Besides students, this has sparked conversation in faculty regarding changes that would help them create stronger learning environments.

“I think I’m most interested in improving the teacher computers and the heating and air conditioning system,” French teacher Rachelle McCoy said. “That said, I’m excited to see what other improvements come to pass. The tables and chairs that were placed in the academic halls this year, for example, are a lovely improvement which bring more function and enjoyment to the space.”

With the addition of new programs and more opportunities for learning, students will begin to have even more areas to succeed in.

“There’s always room for improvement, and we are continually striving to make positive changes in what we do,” McCoy said. “Long-term plans for myself include offering my students more possibilities for travel and study abroad. In terms of the department as a whole, next year we will see some big changes as we venture into offering Latin and American Sign Language as on-line courses.”

Other students hope for more variety in programs, such as pre-professional implementations such as upcoming Capstone classes, job shadowing, and internships.

“I think classes should start focusing more on what we’re gonna do once we get into the real world because even as a freshman, that’s getting really close,” freshman Skylar Linscomb said.

The goal in many of these new internal areas of growth is to captivate students in new ways in hopes of appealing to different styles of learning and best fit their needs.

“Students weren’t always engaged or really connecting or really thinking about learning the material,” Robinson said. “They were maybe present in the room but they were not present in the lesson. That was the conversation I started having with teachers—we’ve got really good students, so let’s make sure that what we are giving them is really good. Compliance to engagement to empowerment is starting to build in some choice. Now that we’ve gotten somewhere and we are really connecting with kids with where they learn, how they learn, and what they want to learn, let’s give them some choice in how they learn that.”

New learning opportunities will also broaden classroom experiences.

“Whatever the product is—is it a poster, a power point or paper, production, performance, or is it in what they study or learn,” Robinson said. “How they learn it is the other thing: maybe researching on their chromebook, maybe it’s going and doing interviews, or observing or going in the field. So there’s a lot of different areas we can give students choices and now you’re really empowering them in the learning process.”

This also applies to the current grading system and how scores will be interpreted in the future.

“I want to talk about new thinking and how it’s going to be related to a standards-based mindset,” Robinson said. “Thinking about how we are doing grading on a 0 to 100 scale where an A is 10, a B is 10, a C is 10 and an F is 60 is weird because the math doesn’t make sense. It’s disproportionately weighted towards failure and so being able to give students feedback on a 4-point scale or specific standards and then students being able to grow in those areas and then master it would be more constructive.”

In addition, AISD began integrating Blend this year, a program redesigning the way content is provided for students.

“With the implementation of Blend, I’ve tried talking to the teachers about working smarter, not harder, not adding something else, but taking the things we are already doing and doing them more efficiently or bundling things so they make sense,” Robinson said. “So we aren’t using five tools, we are using one. So that kind of stuff is hopefully less stressful and giving kids access to learning and their peers on demand so they aren’t just limited and are able to go back and look at your resources in Blend really helps kids relax because now they are able to find all the info that they need.”

But regardless of the new changes to the school, there are still some policies students feel are timeless for Bowie.

“My ideal Bowie is a school where everybody accepts each other for who they are,” Fishbaugh said. “I want everyone to come to school excited to see their friends, and eager to branch out to meet new people.”

Art by: Callie Richards