OUR MISSION
This Montessori school provides young students with an individualized, hands on education. Offering multiple occupation focused courses, students leave Highland with a greater understanding of what careers will be available to them in life after high school and college. Our mission is to alter the curriculums of these occupations so that they can greater support the student’s Community Cafe which fundraises for the end of the year trip to Costa Rica. We also wish to redesign the interior of the cafe to provide the best experience for its students. The completion of this project will be beneficial to every student who attends and will attend Highland Community School by providing yet another unique Montessori experience.
THE HIGHLAND HELPERS
Meet the team of honors students who have been working with Highland Community School
EMMA KNUTSON
B.S. Mechanical Engineering '23
"I have learned so much from this project about the importance of not just implementing a solution that you think is correct, but getting input from those who it is affecting."
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GOALS
Due to current circumstances, we will no longer be able to meet as a group or with the members of Highland Community School for the remainder of the spring. We wish to continue making progress on our project despite this. We have refocused our project plan to better suit our current resources and opportunities.
ORIGINAL
Find a higher up Highland Community School contact who can dictate what we can and can not actually change within the cafe and the greenhouses.
Obtain a copy of the Highland Community School current curriculum outline and blueprints for the cafe and greenhouses.
Create multiple design options and funding requests for the cafe and propose changes to the curriculum.
Share our ideas with a panel of Highland students, Honors students, MSOE faculty, Highland Faculty, and other possible contacts.
Once a design has been selected, obtain the necessary funding through MSOE, Highland, and other sources.
Gather the necessary materials and instruments to transform the cafe and greenhouses.
Remodel the cafe and alter the greenhouses over the summer.
Introduce the new curriculum in the fall '20 for the new students.
COVID-19 MODIFIED
Create a blueprint design for the interior of the cafe
Pick interiors for the cafe
Reuse and find new furniture for the cafe
Pick the best and most cost-efficient way to keep greenhouses warm in the winter
Look into turning all other Highland occupation’s attention to the cafe
Create a cafe menu/meal plan
Pick vegetables we wish to grow in the greenhouses
Create a funding request
Attempt to find funding
“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.”
Maria Montessori
MOVING FORWARD
We are hopeful that we will soon be able to reconnect with each other and with Highland Community School to continue work on this project in the fall of 2020. If we are lucky enough to reconvene on campus in the fall, we plan to remain contributing members of the Highland team by mentoring the incoming honors students who will be able to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to our design. We have established a solid foundation for the future of this project, and we believe, that with our help, Highland Community School will be positively impacted through the work of the MSOE University Honors Scholars Program.