Agora 2022
Agora is returning! This year's activities are Nov. 14-18.
Many exciting changes are happening at the Junior/Senior High School. The building is undergoing major changes and renovations. New science facilities have been created, a modern art wing with a Makerspace is in the works, and, at the center of the building, the Foundry—Ottawa Hills’ new learning center—is nearing completion.
But how will these new spaces and additional resources enhance our collective experience? How will they encourage us to become lifelong learners? How will they enhance collaboration and empathetic engagement in our community? How will they help to form partnerships that will transform our work and our connections to others and the world?
These are the essential questions that have driven the changes we see in our building. The obvious answer is to put these ideals into action. Agora 2022 is the perfect opportunity.The theme of Agora 2022 is “World Builders.” Let us consider the week of Nov. 14-18 as an experiment in building new ways of seeing ourselves and our roles and responsibilities in this tradition of excellence that is Ottawa Hills.
I invite each of you to take part in the creation of the Agora experience, to help build it with you at the center, to be a part of shaping your experiences and the experiences of future students and community members, to help forge a personal connection between you and this place that will last a lifetime.
—James Kinkaid, Agora coordinator
Agora: Overview, philosophy, & resources
The 3 Pillars of Agora
It is useful to think of Agora as having three main pillars that uphold the program's goals:
PILLAR I: Grades 7 & 8
The Junior High Experience: Understanding History and our American Legacy
During Agora, students in the 7th Grade will participate in developmentally-appropriate programming and activities designed to help establish and integrate them as citizens of the Junior/ Senior High School.
Meanwhile, students in the 8th Grade travel together via bus to Washington, D.C. They will visit the center of our democracy, see monuments that commemorate our history, and hear the echoes of voices that define what it means to be American. The adventure connects real places and experiences with students’ academic studies while also helping them envision themselves as participants in the nation’s future.
Experiences that build upon the curriculum include visits to the National Holocaust Museum, FDR Memorial and WWII Memorial, Gettysburg, Smithsonian Institute, Library of Congress, Spy Museum, Vietnam Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Korean Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, Washington Monument, and Jefferson Memorial.
PILLAR II: Grades 9 & 10
The Campus Experience: Developing Character and Contributing to our Community
Students in the 9th and 10th Grades during an Agora year will participate in The Campus Experience. While Agora themes will differ every two years, the focus of the experience will be character development, collaboration, and commitment to the broader community.
In the spring prior to Agora, the theme will be announced. Current 8th and 9th Grade students will then be asked to participate in the Agora Student Planning Committee and develop ideas into creative programs. In the past decade, students have organized a variety of exciting, hands-on, and creative projects designed around clear curricular goals and 21st Century skills. Examples include:
- Remodeling a house or community facility
- Creating runway fashions from recycled materials
- Forming a band and recording a CD
- Exploring the music, politics, and art of the 1960s
- Learning about our bodies, health, and fitness
- Experiencing dance
- Becoming a journalist and photographer
- Making a video documentary
- Understanding the “green” movement
- Getting back to nature at Camp Miakonda
- Using art to make social statements
- Starting a restaurant
- Training and conditioning for mountaineering
- Creating murals for a nonprofit organization
- Retro-fitting a tiny house
- Connecting with the citizens of Toledo
- Learning about religions
- Participating in a cooking competition.
The possibilities are endless. Based on students’ interests, weeklong and multi-day experiences will be planned that may include field-trips, hands-on projects, visits with artists and experts, and opportunities to discover lifelong passions.
PILLAR III: Grades 11-12
Upper-Class Opportunities: Becoming Ambassadors and Lifelong Learners on the World Stage
Students in 11th and 12th Grades during an Agora year will participate in one of the following three activities.
Educational travel: Ottawa Hills offers numerous opportunities that may include international and domestic educational trips planned and led by faculty. Travel provides opportunities to practice language skills, to view and understand other cultures, and to think outside one’s own experience. While trip offerings vary each time, some consistent destinations include France, Spain, Costa Rica, and Italy.
Community volunteering opportunities: An important element of Agora is the volunteering spirit. Through volunteering, students can develop a sense of generosity, compassion for others, and a broader understanding of diversity and the human condition. Community volunteering is woven into most of The Campus Experience programs (grades 9 and 10) and often included in educational travel programs as well. Students contribute to the community in their area of interest and are encouraged to connect with community organizations and causes beyond the week of Agora.
Agora interns and student mentors: Students in grades 9 through 12 may choose to serve as assistants and mentors for The Campus Experience program. Participants will work with the Agora coordinator to develop programs, assist faculty in the implementation, and serve as mentors to 9th and 10th Grade students. Interns learn valuable leadership and planning skills while seeing the development of educational programs through the eyes of educators.
The philosophy behind Agora
Agora is a longstanding tradition at the Junior/Senior High School. Named for the Greek marketplace where people would meet to exchange goods and ideas, Agora has always existed to provide a forum for students to experience ideas outside the traditional classroom. During Agora, students are afforded opportunities to travel domestically and internationally on educational faculty-led trips. At home, students participate in experiences that expand the depth and breadth of learning.
Agora is a biennial program that sets Ottawa Hills apart from other public schools. State educational goals and standards are changing and Agora is a way to address those changes. In the real world, the marketplace is now everywhere and nowhere. As our world has changed, Agora has evolved. The program provides our the building and community with an ideal opportunity to maintain our focus on academic achievement and enrich students with skills such as leadership, collaboration, volunteerism, and global perspectives—qualities increasingly in demand in this new marketplace.
In addition to enriching students with 21st century skills and life experiences, Agora provides a forum for the marketing of the district and a showcase of our students as they leave to enter college and the workforce. Agora is no longer confined to a weeklong program: It is now a new way of looking at our commitment to providing students with the best of rigorous academic content coupled with the gift of experience and connection.
While once thought of as the literal marketplace that we might visit on occasion, Agora will now be the term for our overarching efforts to provide our students with an experience that is super-curricular, connected, and tied to a bigger ideal of what it means to be truly educated.
The celebration takes place for one week every other year in November. Depending on grade level, students receive options (see pillar descriptions below) that range from domestic and international travel to local community experiences and program internships.
This week is part of the regular school calendar and students are expected to attend school as they would during any other week. The difference is that the options are greater, the ideas are student-driven, and the focus is on experience. Agora is part of the history of every student at Ottawa Hills.
Agora themes since 2006
Contact us
If you have questions, would like to offer ideas, or volunteer your time and talents, please call James Kinkaid, Agora coordinator, at 419-534-5388, ext. 3125, or email at Jkinkaid@ohschools.org.
2022 travel opportunities
Spain
- Leader: Senor Hood & Senora Mendez
- Cost: $4,167
- Proof of COVID vaccination required to enter this country.
The November trip to Spain for Agora will begin with a visit first to Granada to see the Cathedral, the Alahambra and the Generalife. We will then be transported by bus to Córdoba to see La Mezquita (Mosque) and la Judería (Jewish Sector.) The next day the journey continues for a two day visit to Toledo.
In Toledo we will visit San Juan de los Reyes, La Sinagoga del Tránsito, Santo Tomé and La Catedral. After our stay in Toledo, we will travel to Segovia to view El Alcázar de los Reyes Católicas and El Acueducto Romano and have a traditional lunch in a local restaurant. We will end up in Madrid by visiting El Prado, La Reina Sofía, El Parque del Retiro, La Plaza Mayor, Los mesones, and El Palacio Real.
This trip is created to help develop language skills within a native setting and to immerse students into the Spanish culture to experience art, history, daily interactions and food.
New Orleans
- Leader: Julie Visser
- Cost: $2,700
This Agora experience has been designed to immerse you in New Orleans history, art, and culture through travel and study. New Orleans is known for its rich history and fusion of many cultures including French, Native American, African, and Caribbean.
This trip is designed to expose you to much of it. From touring the city, to a swamp tour, Kayaking adventure, river boat ride, and exploring the French quarter, we will be immersed in true southern culture. Not only will students experience amazing food but also music, museums, ecotour AND an evening ghost hunt! The students will also take a paddleboat ride on the Mississippi and walking tours of New Orleans.
Costa Rica
- Leader: Jeremy Nixon & Elizabeth Leeds
- Cost: $3,335
- Proof of COVID vaccination is required by the travel agency.
An eco adventure trip that includes seeing three major different ecosystems and several geographical features, plant life, and animal life. Students will be in a Spanish-speaking country interacting with the wonderful people of Costa Rica and experiencing their culture.
Students will be immersed in the rainforest within two hours of landing in Costa Rica where they experience biodiversity like nothing they’ve ever seen. Within 24 hours, students will be on the Sarapiqui river whitewater rafting and learning about the amazing organisms that live near the water.
Other amazing experiences include hiking the Arenal volcano, experiencing the natural hot springs of Arenal volcano, boating across Arenal volcano lake, horseback riding by Arenal volcano lake, zip-lining across the mountains of Monte Verde, hiking in the cloud forest of Monte Verde, and visiting the continental divide, outrigger canoe excursion with snorkeling, hiking, and beach games, surf lessons in the Pacific Ocean in the city of Jaco, crocodile and birding boat tour, and finally a relaxing afternoon on the beaches of Punta Leona before heading back to San Jose and our return flight back to the United States.
Italy-Dolce Vita
- Leader: Gerry Davis
- Cost: $3,970
- Proof of COVID vaccination required to enter this country.
This Agora experience has been designed to immerse you in Italian history, art, and culture through travel and study. Our journey begins in Naples where we step back in time as we visit the Naples’ National Archaeological Museum and the Roman city of Pompeii. Next we head to Rome where we will visit the Vatican and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, and finally Trajan’s market and fora of historic Rome.
We will experience even more local sites before we move on to Assisi, the boyhood home of St Francis, while on route to Florence. While in Florence, we will view Michelangelo’s David and other masterpieces at the Uffizi Gallery. We’ll take the train to Venice, where we will explore the island of Murano and the mask-making studio Ca’Macana, where we will make our own carnival masks, before a final evening gondola ride.
France
- Leader: Madame Hanlon
- Cost: $4,000
- Proof of COVID vaccination required to enter this country.
We will spend a week soaking up French culture, history, and language. We will arrive in Paris and head directly to Normandy where we will visit the American Cemetery, the D Day beaches, and the Musée du Débarquement. The following day, we will visit Mont Saint Michel before traveling to St. Malo.
On Day 4, we will return to Paris where we will spend the following days visitings places including Le Louvre, Le Musée d’Orsay, les Catacombes, Le Quartier Latin, Notre Dame, La Tour Eiffel, l’Arc de Triomphe, les Champs Elysées, and Versailles. We also plan to visit a French high school so the students will be able to meet French students.
Pending scheduling, we will also enjoy a concert during our stay. Depending on the composition of the group and the level of language skills, many tours will be conducted in French so students will be able to practice their listening and speaking skills.
Students will also be expected to carry out cultural exchanges (e.g., ordering in a restaurant, making purchases) in French.
Local opportunities
Workshops
- Campus Agora Planning Team: James Kinkaid, Jasa George, Karen Fischer
- Workshop leaders: OH Faculty and staff along with community partners
- Cost: $20-50
Students in grades 9-12 may choose to participate in one of a variety of workshops as part of the Agora Campus Experience. While Agora themes will differ, the focus of the experience will be character development, collaboration, and fostering a commitment to the community.
In the past few years, students have done a wide variety of exciting, hands-on, and creative projects designed around clear curricular goals and 21st Century skills. The possibilities are endless. Based on students' interests, weeklong and multi-day experiences will be planned that may include field-trips, hands-on projects, visits with artists and experts, and the possibilities for discovering life-long passions. Some examples include:
- Remodeling a house
- Creating runway fashions from recycled materials
- Forming a band and recording a CD
- Exploring the music, politics, and art of the 1960s
- Learning about our bodies, health, and fitness
- Experiencing dance
- Becoming a journalist and photographer
- Making a video documentary
- Understanding the Green movement
- Going Medieval, bringing history alive
- Getting back to nature at Camp Miakonda
- Using art to make social statements
- Opening a restaurant
- Visiting disadvantaged and homeless populations
- Creating an off the grid tiny house
- Building a Rube Goldberg project
- Learning about the justice system through a mock trial
- Volunteering at the Human Society and marketing dogs and cats for adoption
- Forming Glee club
- Exploring world faiths
2022 local opportunities
Workshops
- Campus Agora Planning Team: James Kinkaid, Jasa George, Karen Fischer
- Workshop leaders: OH Faculty and staff along with community partners
- Cost: $20-50
Students in grades 9-12 may choose to participate in one of a variety of workshops as part of the Agora Campus Experience. While Agora themes will differ, the focus of the experience will be character development, collaboration, and fostering a commitment to the community.
In the past few years, students have done a wide variety of exciting, hands-on, and creative projects designed around clear curricular goals and 21st Century skills. The possibilities are endless. Based on students' interests, weeklong and multi-day experiences will be planned that may include field-trips, hands-on projects, visits with artists and experts, and the possibilities for discovering life-long passions. Some examples include:
- Remodeling a house
- Creating runway fashions from recycled materials
- Forming a band and recording a CD
- Exploring the music, politics, and art of the 1960s
- Learning about our bodies, health, and fitness
- Experiencing dance
- Becoming a journalist and photographer
- Making a video documentary
- Understanding the Green movement
- Going Medieval, bringing history alive
- Getting back to nature at Camp Miakonda
- Using art to make social statements
- Opening a restaurant
- Visiting disadvantaged and homeless populations
- Creating an off the grid tiny house
- Building a Rube Goldberg project
- Learning about the justice system through a mock trial
- Volunteering at the Human Society and marketing dogs and cats for adoption
- Forming Glee club
- Exploring world faiths