Social Story: Enloe High School
I (Ashley) grew up in Raleigh and went to high school at Enloe. I LOVED my time at Enloe and the things I learned about myself and my world there. It is not a school for everyone, and not everyone loves this school, but when there is that reaction to something then that usually means there is a good thing going on there. Enloe was where I learned that women could do anything men could, that our world is full of people that are not like me and it is important to learn more about them instead of being scared of them. Diversity is valuable. There were groups of friends at Enloe but not really a hierarchy... and you could be friends with anyone (I am still actively friends with many of the people I met in my time at Enloe). Many of the issues that are most important to me were initially rooted in my time in high school.I was honored to be a part of a project that helped tell the story of Enloe. We worked with one of my favorite teachers, April Tisdale Hoffman, to pull together the concepts. It was so much fun (and certainly surreal) to be back at Enloe, thinking about what makes it so special. This project's final products include but are not limited to a booklet, brochures, posters. As usual I am sharing with you snippets from each part of this larger project.
We chose to highlight 6 different aspects of life at Enloe that might be unique or little known about Enloe. One of the academic aspects we highlighted is the Civilizations and Cultures class (known as "C & C"). This is a class that combines english and social studies. There are technically two teachers, one for each subject and two classes. The teachers match up correlating topics in the curriculum and provide lots of hands on opportunity to learn and digest the material.
I observed a C&C class all together putting together a mock trial based on the characters from Romeo and Juliet- so they learned about the judicial system alongside reading Romeo and Juliet. A local judge actually volunteers to come in and presides over the mock trial to further educate them in the system and give them an unbiased "ruling".
As I have talked about on Facebook, I LOVE photographing dancers. It gets me all excited and fills me with good energy. Enloe is known for it's strength and talent in the arts so it was hard to decide which department to highlight. The dance studio got a recent renovation so we decided it would be awesome to not only show off the new space but to show that the foundation of a good performance at the end of the year is the day to day work in class. Often schools show images of the final product- the concert, the play, the dance performance. At Enloe it is what is learned in the classroom that takes you places when you leave. I learned so much more in my amazing photography class at Enloe than I did in my university photography class because of the resources in the photography studio at Enloe.
(Fun fact- the dance teacher at Enloe, Glenda Mackie, was my dance teacher when I was 4-6 yrs old. Love her!)
Another academic aspect we covered was the AP Environmental Science class. This was one of the classes I remember the most from in high school- I loved this class! I followed the class down to Bertie Creek to document them carrying out one of their labs measuring various levels in the water as well as observing the living organisms in the creek.
The athletic team that we wanted to highlight changed a few times... we had so many different reasons for wanting to highlight different teams. We decided on football, as this is a sport that Enloe is not necessarily known for. Enloe is a public school but has such special features that put it in competition with private and charter schools... and those schools do not usually have sports like football. This summer I caught one of the training sessions, again putting the focus on the hard work that goes into functioning as a team.
"The 'Loe Down" is the completely student run daily news show for the school. I was so impressed with the knowledge these students have to direct and produce this entire show- and they get to use some really cool equipment! The teacher for this subject, Mr. Leslie, retired after this past school year. He has led Enloe students to winning several Emmys in his time there. This was another awesome example of the teacher being present and helpful, interactive yet still empowering the students to do it on their own when they can.
There are so many opportunities to get involved in the community at Enloe. I met up with students from the Medical Bio-Science Academy (MBSA) as they put on a health fair at a nearby elementary school. The fair was fun and educational- the kids from the elementary school got to play games and win prizes, all the while learning and exploring healthy living. I observed EVERYONE having an awesome time.
Thank you again, Enloe (particularly April "Tizzy" Hoffman!! It was so great to reconnect with you- thanks for thinking of us!) for giving me this opportunity. I loved getting to share my high school with my husband, to remember all the reasons why I loved my time there and to be so proud of what was instilled in me while I was an Eagle.