By Rocio Hernandez
Principal Jason Mattick prides himself on the welcoming, inclusive environment that he and the staff at Billinghurst Middle School in Reno have fostered.
But he said students’ connection to Billinghurst eroded during the pandemic, when schools were forced to shut down and conduct classes virtually. He credits students’ inability to connect with their school to some of the issues schools across the country are experiencing with student attendance and engagement.
Caitlin Rock, an engagement specialist at Billinghurst Middle School in Reno, plays basketball with a student.
“We really have this hot pot of kids who just aren’t finding a reason to come to school,” he said.
Mattick and his staff have been working on getting students excited about school again through the help of $500,000 in grant funding over the past two years from an anonymous donor. Billinghurst is one of six Washoe County schools using the grant to create and fund new student clubs and sports opportunities in an effort to reengage their students.
Billinghurst has been able to use the money to create new clubs such as robotics and mountain biking, offer intramural sports and cheerleading opportunities and buy supplies for these extracurricular activities — something that Mattick said he wasn’t able to do easily prior to receiving grant funding.
In addition to expanding extracurriculars, Mattick said Billinghurst has also made it a point to connect with new students and their families from their very first day, interviewing them on what brought them to Billinghurst and what the school should know about the student to prevent them from getting lost within the system.
Billinghurst was recently recognized by the Washoe County School Board for its work on student engagement that’s contributing to increases in math proficiency and decreases in suspensions.
“I believe that we’ve created a climate and culture here at Billinghurst, where no matter where you come from, the trauma or the background you bring to campus every day, there’s an opportunity for you to fit in,” Mattick said.
Tahoe-area high school students receive grant funding for invention
Engineering students at Incline High School in Incline Village, near Lake Tahoe, have received a $7,500 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant as part of a program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) geared toward invention education. The Incline High School InvenTeam will work to create a detection system to address the problems created by heavy snow loads on rooftops.
Incline High School is one of only eight high schools nationwide to be selected as an InvenTeam this year. After conducting its research, the team will build a working prototype that will be showcased at a technical review in February, and then again as a final prototype during EurekaFest, an invention celebration taking place next June at MIT.
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