Lake County Gazette

At their January 17th board meeting, West Oak Middle School principal Brandon Pedersen shared the results of a special event with the school board. The middle school was designated as an Illinois School to Watch last year by the National Forum through the Association for Illinois Middle Schools. Through this designation, the AIMS contacted West Oak and the six other middle schools that received the designation in the state and asked about doing a learning walk through the school. This would allow a school official, teacher, or university student, to come into the building and see how they function and get a feel for the school.

“The kids felt like they had a voice and a part in this,” Brandon Pederson, principal of West Oak Middle School, said.  “You know, a lot of great information was something that was reiterated, and a lot of people were impressed with what we have and what we have been able to work with. This is a very successful one much bigger than anything they've had earlier this year. I just received an email this past weekend inviting the kids to present at their exploratory summit.”

The school did host a learning walk on December 19th from 9 a.m. to noon. During this time they had 27 visitors, the highest number by any of the seven schools who offered this. The second highest number was seven visitors. They have quite a few school officials and a lot of university students who had just graduated from a teaching program. The school showcased its programs and initiatives through this walk and used its student ambassadors (5 from each grade level) to help.

Everyone involved in the event had a great time, from the visitors who felt there was great information, to the administrators who felt they had represented the district well, to the student ambassadors who were proud to have shown their school. The student ambassadors were invited to speak at the AIMS Summit in March at the Glen Elyn Middle School. The board was excited about the presentation and thanked principal Preble for putting on the event and bringing people into the district.