ROWVA District 208 Superintendent Joe Sornberger reflected on the first half of the school year and talked about some upcoming projects and events. One may describe ROWVA in recent years as innovative. Sornberger talked about the student tech aides that students, teachers, and administrators take advantage of. “Our teachers are so busy learning and teaching our kids that they don’t have the time to catch the extra stuff,” Sornberger said. “So if we can teach our kids that; kids can teach the teachers. It’s a shortcut – teachers don’t have to spend the time. The kids get to it, and it just keeps the ball rolling.” Students and teachers have a hotline and an email they can use to send out IT tech support requests – that students respond to. Another innovative new idea is the Automotive & Building Trades class possibly assembling a car to be raffled off. Sornberger said they’ve discussed purchasing a roadster kit – in addition to other vehicles – that the students assemble, and then possibly raffling off the finished vehicle. Sornberger touted ROWVA’s robust social media presence. “We have a Mass Communications class,” Sornberger said. “They basically run our social media. There’s a group of about eight (students). They do an awesome job. We ask a lot of them. They are getting a grade for this class, so we treat it as such. We’re very serious about promoting the ROWVA brand and the ROWVA Strong brand and they understand that. The more information that we can get out to the community about what we’re doing so everyone can see the great things going on at the ROWVA School District the better off we are.” Late next month, Sornberger will travel to Schaumberg, Illinois to present all that ROWVA does with social media.
Upcoming projects for ROWVA includes a remodel of the high school locker rooms and bathrooms. The district has also discussed upgrades to the Family and Consumer Science Lab. Like the new and impressive chem lab, Sornberger wants that lab modernized and ready for a student to go from ROWVA to working in a professional or industrial kitchen. Coming up on March 5th is ROWVA’s Community Open House where the public can come and check out new amenities like the up-and-running new chem lab.
Sornberger says over 500 people attend the open house each year and when someone sees the new chem lab, they “forget what the old one even looked like.”
