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Community Corner

Tinley Park HS's Panther Project

Panthers grow up to be Titans… at least they do in Tinley Park.  The transition from middle school to high school can be a daunting experience for many students whose only ideas of high school come from movies and television. Tinley Park High School Junior, Jack Cascone, an Arbor Park Middle School graduate, wanted to create a smoother transition for the 8th graders.  After attending the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference (RYLA) in October, he approached Tinley Park High School Assistant Principal Mrs. Wendy Bumphis, with a plan to put his training into practice.  He enlisted the help of a fellow Arbor Park Middle School graduate, Junior Abigail Simon, and plans began.

The two Tinley Park High School students met with Arbor Park Middle School Principal Mrs. Mary Beth Sexton and Assistant Principal Mr. Scot Pierce, to ask permission to meet with the 8th graders to discuss transitional strategies for high school.  Jack and Abby investigated topics that would be effective and most beneficial for the middle school students.  Once they received approval from the Tinley Park High School Administration to pursue this project, they invited eight other high school students to be a part of the “Panther Project” and had T-Shirts made up for all the members. 

Not all of the Panther Project members are Arbor graduates, and not all Arbor Park 8th graders will attend Tinley Park High School in the fall.  The high school students are presenting lessons and having discussions that will help the middle school students, regardless of which high school they will attend. With the help of staff members from both schools, the Panther Project students meet regularly to plan lessons, schedule and coordinate monthly visits to the middle school, and seek feedback on how to provide meaningful and relevant lessons to the students.  To date, they have presented lessons on bullying and self-esteem. 

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The outlook for the program is great.  The members of the Panther Project have dreams of the program extending beyond Arbor Park Middle School to the other middle schools that feed into Tinley Park High School.  The entire project was started by two students’ desire to be positive role models for the students whose position they, themselves, were in three years ago. Awesome job, Panther Project!  We can’t wait to see what you do next!  The Panther Project will be presenting at the upcoming Board of Education meeting on April 15, 7 p.m. at Tinley Park High School.

 

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