What happens when an entire school day's curriculum is determined by a group of junior high students? Apparently visits with the bomb squad, cake decorating and quality time with a horse named Magnum.
Student Professional Development Day was held for the first time just prior to the end of the school year in an unconventional effort to provide students with an out-of-the-box learning experience and a little bit of fun.
"In the classroom, we have to learn about book stuff and out here it's more hands-on. It's a more fun way to learn," said seventh-grader Corey Lyscas, who designed his day to focus on law enforcement.
"We've been learning about a variety of different things, like police officers and what they do. I chose the police and state trooper stuff because it's fascinating to learn about," he continued.
Instructional Technology Facilitator Candace Warren, who will be the junior high principal next year, said her goal was to provide teachers and students with an engaging and high interest activity.
Warren said she began planning Student PD Day by surveying the student body about their interests.
"I started with the driving question 'if you could come to school and learn about anything you wanted to learn about, what would it be,'" Warren said, "and they filled out a survey and from that survey I found speakers to come in and teach them about those topics."
Warren said the students not only selected the topics, but also laid out their own schedules to reflect their individual interests. Warren said a couple students even asked to lead sessions during the event.
Eighth-grader Lauren Robertson was one of the student presenters during the event. She led a session called "So You Think You Can Dance" and worked with small groups all day, sharing a few of her skills with her classmates.
"I mostly just altered an older dance to make it easier for beginners to do and I borrowed my mom's friends speaker... so it was pretty easy but a lot of fun," she said.
Robertson, who has been dancing for five years, said she asked to lead a session because she wanted to expose her fellow students to something new and different.
"I'm really passionate about dance and not that many kids at this school know about it at all. Hip-hop is pretty well known, not just the style of dance, but the culture so I thought, 'hey why not teach kids something they already know quite a bit about,'" Robertson said.
Though she was originally expecting to see mostly girls attending her sessions, Robertson said she had a lot of guys come out and that they "really impressed" her, and also said the girls did, too.
One of PD Day's most popular guests were Tina Burchett and her horse, Magnum.
Burchett, who is the librarian for the Zalma R-V school district, said she took Magnum to the event after her daughter, PBJHS teacher Kacy Grigery, asked if she'd like to attend.
"Sometimes horses get a bad rap," Burchett said. "But he's like a big puppy dog, he eats this up."
Burchett said she enjoys attending student events such as this with her 1,200 pound sidekick who spent most of his day getting pampered by teenaged girls.
"I've had several people who have never touched a horse before. I've even had a teacher today come out who had never touched a horse and she was kissing him by the end," Burchett said.
Teen Leadership and Exploring Careers teacher Jennifer Nicolini said she thinks the event was a success.
"The kids are really enjoying this today. They have ownership. They chose their classes, they chose the speakers we brought in, and it's also fun because a lot of faculty staff have talents that they're sharing today, too."
For example, Nicolini said, English teacher J.D. Dunn led sessions on cosmetology and mechanic work, while Chris Wheat, who normally teachers math, spent her day showing students how to create origami.
Robertson, who was a little winded after finishing one of her afternoon dance sessions, said she thinks Student PD Day inspires students and should become an annual event at PBJHS.
"I think this is a great event," she said. "I think it gives kids more choice at school rather than feeling like 'oh I have to go learn again.'"