Landon Rogers, 14, admits that he procrastinated for the first six weeks of his project in his Experiential Learner Mastermind, or ELM, class at Granville Middle School.
“I was, like, barely doing anything,” said Rogers, an 8th grader.
He also didn’t realize exactly what he was signing up for when he selected the class taught by language arts teacher James Browder.
“I thought at the beginning of the year, he was like, 'go free,' and we got to do whatever we want,” Rogers said.
Instead, Rogers ended up learning about entrepreneurship, sending emails, etiquette and how to talk to people. Because of that, he’s given out more than 100 free lunches through his project, Smiles for Food.
Browder said the semester-long class asks students to tackle big projects they care about. Because students choose the projects, they’re driven in a way that they aren’t in a traditional classroom.
“And they do amazing things,” Browder said.
“They can do really big things right now and for the rest of their lives."- Granville Middle School teacher James Browder
Motivation through freedom
Browder got the idea for the class after reading the book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink. It’s a business book that talks about the value of giving employees autonomy.
Browder ran with the idea, giving his language arts students Fridays to work on projects that interested them. That eventually turned into the dedicated ELM class, which Browder has been teaching for three years.
“Every year I'm nervous. Is it going to work? Is it going to take off? Was that a fluke? And it, you know, just is a homerun every year,” Browder said.
Granville is a high achieving school district. It earned five stars on the most recent state report card, but Browder said like any school, the district sometimes struggles with engagement. He also pointed to a rise in mental health problems among students.
“And I think that’s due to a lack of agency and kids feeling like they have no control,” Browder said.
So in ELM, Browder gives them as much control as he can. Browder said failure IS an option for students, but most of the time, when they’re faced with roadblocks, they pivot.
Smiles for Food
Rogers, whose grandmother runs a food truck, originally wanted to use a food truck to deliver free meals in Newark, but he found out he couldn’t legally do that.
"Apparently it's, like, super unsanitary. If, like, there was a kid to do it. It has to be an adult,” Rogers said.
So, he changed course: last semester, he and his classmates bagged 50 lunches. Rogers passed them out at the St. Vincent DePaul center in Newark.
“They were super thankful, and it made me feel super good,” Rogers said.
He enjoyed the project so much that he took ELM again this semester. He and his classmates bagged up to 100 lunches on Thursday and will do 100 more before the school year is over.
Letting a project Flow
Seventh-grader Mia Myers is also in ELM. For her project, she wanted to put dispensers for pads and tampons in the middle school bathrooms. She first saw a pad dispenser a few years ago and thought it was a great idea.
“Pads and tampons are like toilet paper. I mean, like, it's a basic necessity. I think they should be free and everywhere,” Myers said.
But, one day, dispensers “magically” appeared at the school. She thought her project was ruined.
“And then Mr. Browder was like, well, it's like, not really ruined. I mean, there's no products in the town anywhere,” she said.
So, Myers teamed up with Columbus-based Aunt Flow to put menstrual products in the bathrooms at several Granville restaurants, including Harvest Pizzeria, Station and Three Tigers Brewing Co.
Aunt Flow was started by Claire Coder, who launched the business when she was 18. Myers worked with an Aunt Flow sales representative to set up accounts with the Granville businesses. Myers also got to talk with Coder in a digital meeting.
Browder said it takes passion to put yourself and an idea out there. At 14 years old, Myers wasn’t bothered by the taboo around menstrual products or the many ignored emails from local businesses.
“And it literally is changing the world for women who live in our community in a pretty profound way,” Browder said.
Perseverance
Then there’s Adam Schmitt. He loves sports and wanted to make sure anyone could play, even if they couldn’t afford equipment.
“So, I decided to make, this basically Goodwill for sports equipment,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt cut the ribbon on his equipment shed in Raccoon Valley Park a few months ago. It’s stocked with baseball bats and gloves, lacrosse sticks, cleats and more.
Schmitt, however, didn’t finish the project while he was in Browder’s class. The project got tied up while he waited to get a grant from the Michael Dean Gibbs Foundation. The foundation gives money to kids to pursue activities and community projects.
As the semester ended, Browder gave Schmitt the opportunity to quit, but he didn’t give up.
Schmitt eventually got the grant, and he and his dad spent their Sundays last fall finishing the shed, which started as a three-sided building on loan from the Granville Recreation Department.
“Actually, it was built for housing porta-potties,” Schmitt laughed. “So, yeah, making something creative out of something that wasn't supposed to be creative.”
That kind of creativity and problem-solving is exactly what Browder wants his students to remember.
“We give them these artificial finish lines of, you know, degrees and things that we tell them they need,” Browder said. “They can do really big things right now and for the rest of their lives. And they’ll have at least somewhat of a framework of how to do that.”
