Emerson continuing to find ways to reach students, make lasting impact - The Owensboro Times

Graphic by Owensboro Times

The staff at Emerson Academy is continuing to look into new ways to reach their students — such as allowing them to attend in-person four days a week rather than two, as well as discussing how to revamp their mentor program in order to benefit more children.

Emerson, called Gateway Academy until 2019, has served as an option for Owensboro Public Schools students who have faced struggles and challenges in their high school years.

Most students come to Emerson with credit deficiencies or because they were not successful in a “traditional” setting such as Owensboro High School.

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According to Emerson Principal Kevin Thompson, school and district officials are working to more quickly identify students who need help so they don’t fall so far behind.

While they don’t want to pull students from OHS too early so they can stay in the “traditional” setting longer, Thompson said they don’t want to wait until it’s too late.

“What we found is some kids are falling very behind,” he said. “Come their senior year, they get so far behind it becomes almost impossible for them to graduate on time. We shifted our philosophy and started talking about ways we could maybe catch that earlier and get them caught up on their credits.”

Thompson said once students are back on track, they have the option to remain at Emerson or return to OHS.

Emerson’s population is typically around 75-90 students for their day school and 20-25 for night school. However, largely due so much learning being done virtually this year, the day school population has dipped to about 40 — though the night numbers are up slightly to 25-30.

Like the rest of the district, Emerson is following an A/B hybrid learning schedule that includes only two required in-person learning days per week.

However, because their current population numbers are so low and because they don’t want their students to become even more credit-deficient, Emerson officials are encouraging students to come to the classroom four days per week.

Thompson said some are taking advantage of the offer. He said if each student were to start attending on their “off days” they might have to reconsider, but they are able to maintain all safety guidelines currently.

“We have some students that are thriving with the virtual work, and there are some other students that are struggling that are more successful with the traditional face-to-face teaching,” Thompson said.

Thompson also gave much credit to his staff, saying they haven’t gotten too rattled and have been adaptable. He said the teachers at Emerson — like those across the county, state and country — have done an amazing job of keeping students’ education a priority.

“They are extremely flexible in the approach that we have to give to our students day by day,” Thompson said. “It’s tough for everyone right now. Teachers across the nation and world are having to find ways to reach students in new ways. The flexibility of teachers right now is pretty amazing. Their main goal is to provide the best education for their students with whatever method they have to at any given time.”

One initiative the school isn’t able to utilize currently is the Emerson Academy Resiliency Network (EARN) — a mentor-based life skills program that focuses on career preparation, budgeting, financial responsibility, applying for jobs and housing, time management and communication.

Even prior to the pandemic, Emerson officials were looking into restructuring the program to make it more effective and reach more students.

As a pilot program in 2019-20, 10 senior students were paired with 10 mentors from the community. The mentors are people with “a lot of experience and community involvement that would benefit students.”

Thompson said they may have the mentors come into the school to speak to all the students, helping impact as many lives as possible.

“Instead of matching up one mentor with just one student, the thought process now is to bring a mentor in during the day and expose them to all the students in our building,” Thompson said. “Instead of letting one mentor’s knowledge just be with one student, try to share that knowledge with our entire student population.”

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Emerson continuing to find ways to reach students, make lasting impact - The Owensboro Times
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