BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — The sky is the limit for students at Vanguard Academy in Broken Arrow.
This year, the school will send off its first class of graduating seniors, and administrators are anxious to watch them grow.
If you’ve driven past Vanguard, the architecture is eye-catching. What you see on the outside is mirrored on the inside. The learning techniques match the aesthetics.
Students can be found inside the maker space, an area for collaboration and creation. Amidst the sawdust, glistening blades, and piles of wood, you'll be hard-pressed to find a traditional textbook.
“Vanguard is a different approach to the high school experience,” Patrick Ibison, science coach at Vanguard, said. “We are committed to meeting students where they are in a non-traditional classroom."
It’s the Vanguard way, a Broken Arrow public school that's tapping into its students' potential.
“Our goal is for them to find a way that they are proud of what they learned,” Ibison said. “That the learning and effort itself leaves a positive memory that they want to do more of."
This is done through active, project-based learning through labs, outdoor classrooms, and an agricultural center.
"The community is a big thing,” Jaxon Roop, a sophomore at Vanguard, said. “Everyone is so kind to each other. You know everyone, their name, what they are working on, and you have a relationship with your teachers. It’s not like you go into your classroom, sit down, take notes, say goodbye."
Vanguard goes beyond that. In fact, front-of-the-room lectures and multiple-choice quizzes aren’t typically found at the academy.
“It allows students to own their experience,” Ibison said. “They are not defined or put inside a box or row of tables where they have to be a certain shape or certain thing. What they are expected to do is grow."
For instance, Ibison is teaching his physical science class the way that energy flows through systems. The class takes what they learn about energy and brings it to life in project form.
This type of learning is echoed in the curriculum throughout the school.
English classes can be studied through coding, and currently, environmental science classes are tying fishing flies to be later put to actual use.
Not only is the school giving students real-world experience, but it’s also giving them the confidence to dream big.
“I love our core values,” Addison Bass, a sophomore at Vanguard, said. One of my favorites is ‘Growth Over Comfort, ' which means stepping out of your comfort zone to do things.
It is a core value the first class of graduating seniors, who began as sophomores, hopes to carry with them to lead future generations.
Vanguard meets all the state education standards, and students are tasked with taking state assessments.
Currently, 255 students attend Vanguard, and the school receives about 200 applications for 75 spots.
The school offers two full-time programs and one part-time program for students in grades 9-12. Full-time programs are application-based, while part-time programs do not require an application. For more information and to learn about the programs, click here.
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