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PROVO — A ribbon cutting Thursday has opened new doors for neurodivergent teenagers to participate more fully in project-based learning — from building robots, a golf course or full-sized derby cars to coding, 3D printing and hatching chickens.
The Spark Academy is for neurodivergent students in seventh through 12th grade who have struggled to work in a regular classroom, possibly not having gone to school in months as a result. These students come to live at the Heritage Community in Provo and participate in project-based learning and hands-on collaborations that make learning enjoyable.
"The regular system is just not built for kids like (the academy students). Here, we didn't want to just re-create this school system that already failed them once, so we switched it from the more traditional-style classroom to a project-based learning model, which allows them to get out of their desks to work together as groups," said Matty Bryant, Spark Academy's principal.
The Heritage Community is a nonprofit organization made to help students and families who need a different approach to therapy and education in order to thrive. Students are housed in the community and they attend school until they feel more prepared to go back to regular school and life at home.
The academy began in 2019, and project-based learning began as an experiment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spark directors found the new curriculum to be successful, but the projects needed more room than they had in their original building. So, directors decided to convert an older, unused building on Heritage Community's campus into the new academy for students to have bigger classrooms to work in.
"A lot of our kids ask us, 'When will I ever use this? What do I need this for?'" Bryant said. He explained that the projects help the students see that what they're learning applies to real-life opportunities and that school can be enjoyable.
Alaina Chatterley, Heritage's director of admissions and outreach, described the type of students that benefit from Spark Academy: "We get those kids who refuse school; they just won't go, it is too overwhelming. Either they got bullied or they felt dumb or sensory overloaded. ... The other set are those that could hold it together during the school day, white-knuckle it, but after school go home and just fall apart and unleash on mom and dad." Chatterley emphasized that they are not "bad kids," they are just overwhelmed.
"Some parents hear 'project-based learning' and think it's just play time ... it's just a way for them to take all the academic core and apply it," Chatterley said.
The students will move to their new building after their fall break at the end of September. For more information on Spark Academy and the Heritage Community, visit their website.
