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Schooling students on the river

Posted on December 6, 2007 by Staff

Photo by Isaac Sandlin

Hawbridge combines science, art to teach about the Haw

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

Tucked away in Saxapahaw’s River Mill Village along the banks of the Haw River, the Hawbridge School offers high school students a different sort of education, with the opportunity to spend time learning in and around the river.

After a move to River Mill Village a few years ago, the public charter school, formerly known as New Century Charter High School, changed its mission to focus on environmental science and the arts.
The school — which was previously housed in several locations around Chapel Hill, including a church basement, the Chelsea Theater, the old White Cross school building and the Sheraton Hotel club room — is small, with only 85 students in grades 9-12 and 12 faculty members.

“This school is the best kept secret,” said Norma Johnson, the school’s science and sustainable agriculture teacher. Johnson said she came to the Hawbridge School because she really liked the school’s focus on the arts and environmental science and its small size.

“I was so impressed with the vision of the school and where the school was going,” she said.

Hawbridge School teachers have varied backgrounds — the world history teacher has worked as a Middle East correspondent, while an art teacher came from New York’s Harlem Textile Works, an arts-education institution and design studio.

“Everybody’s done something else, and I think that’s really good for the students,” said Marcia Huth, the school’s director.

Walking into the school’s new building, it’s obvious a lot of care went into the design of the Hawbridge School. The halls have hardwood floors and tall ceilings, and the space, which still smells like a textile mill, is very open and airy, with large windows and exposed brick.

“The kids are very artistic and the faculty is very artistic, so we need a beautiful place so we can function well,” Huth said.

Huth hopes the school will add a middle school on the floor below the high school. They’ve applied to do so, but won’t find out if they’ll receive the funding for a couple of months.

Studying the river

With the school’s proximity now to the Haw River, Hawbridge School teachers decided to use the resources around them to educate their students.

“All of the classes utilize the river in some way,” Johnson said. The earth science class, for example, is building a nature trail along the section of the river behind the school.

All students in the class are creating their own stations on the trail, where they’ve conducted a habitat assessment to determine the native and invasive plants in that area.

For physical education, students canoe and kayak on the river.

“They moan and groan about it at the beginning,” Huth said. “But by the end, they’re sad that the season is over.”

In addition, students have participated in the Haw River Assembly’s River Watch Project, in which river watchers look for certain organisms to determine the health of the water.

Christine Rebrook, a sophomore from Alamance County, said she liked being able to use the river in her classes.

“It’s cool for biology and art, because we get to do stuff with the river,” she said.

Johnson said she uses the river “any time I can connect [the students’] science learning with something outside.”

“The wildlife around here is pretty incredible,” she continued. “They absolutely develop an attachment to the river.”

Sometimes, Johnson said, she takes the students outside to just sit on the rocks by the river and take it all in.

A different kind of curriculum

Students must apply to attend the Hawbridge School, and because it’s so small the school does turn some applicants away.

“We hope to recruit students who are going to focus on the environmental aspect and the art aspect,”

Huth said. Most classes have no more than 20 students, while some have as few as two.

Once students are accepted, they must sign a partnership agreement with their parents and school faculty.

Morgan Smith, a junior from Greensboro who started at the school last year, said she came to the Hawbridge School because of its size.

“It’s a lot smaller than the public schools,” she said.

Alex Craig, a junior who previously attended Chapel Hill High School, said he too liked the school’s smaller classes.

“It’s much different than other schools,” he said. “You get more attention that way.”

Craig added that he liked the flexibility he had with his curricula compared with some traditional high schools’ block schedules. The school year at Hawbridge is broken up into interdisciplinary units. This year, the units include pottery, power and energy, textiles, the river and sustainable environment.

“The main reason that we’re doing this is so they can see connections across disciplines,” Huth said.

During each unit, students go on fieldtrips, work on special projects and listen to guest speakers.

“Because we’re a small school, we’ve been able to go on so many field trips,” Johnson said.

The students will soon complete their river unit, in which they’ve studied some aspect of the river in all their classes. In music class, for example, the students studied music from areas along the Mississippi River, from New Orleans to St. Louis.

“Basically, the [interdisciplinary units] ha[ve] been so phenomenally successful that we’re bowled over,” Huth said.

Although the river unit is drawing to a close, the students’ study of the river is hardly complete.

“We’ll probably always do something with the river,” Huth said, “because it’s right there.”

3 thoughts on “Schooling students on the river”

  1. Jody Guy says:
    December 13, 2007 at 6:12 am

    My daughter attends a small school similar in concept to Hawbridge- and we have 3 rivers – and are looking at a grant for interdiscipinary -art/environment – education- what specific programs have you created that you could share? based on art and the river environment?

  2. Marcia Huth says:
    December 17, 2007 at 11:30 am

    Much of the curriculum is explained on the web page, http://www.hawbridgeschool.org

    After the holidays you can phone me at 336.376.1122, x203, if you wish.

    Marcia Huth

  3. Brianna Blair says:
    November 6, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    I’m a junior at Hawbridge. :)
    If other high schools were more like this, teenagers would have it so much better.

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