Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Somerville High outlines five-week senior ECHO pilot to give all seniors a real-world culminating experience
Summary
Somerville High School presented the ECHO senior project — a five-week, student-driven program giving seniors options including externships, independent projects, volunteer work or college courses — with a pilot planned for the next school year and a multi-year rollout toward possible graduation requirement.
Somerville High School plans to pilot a five-week, student-driven senior experience called the ECHO project next school year that would let seniors pursue externships, independent passion projects, volunteer positions or college coursework and culminate in a public showcase.
The project, presented Feb. 3 to the Somerville School Committee by Principal Alicia Kirsten and program leads Megan Spinelli and Megan McDevitt, is described as a way for seniors to “pursue a passion project and hone those Highlander habits,” and to provide equitable access to beyond-the-classroom opportunities for all students. “The ECHO project is really what we've been envisioning for probably the past 10 or 12 years,” Principal Alicia Kirsten told the committee.
Committee members pressed for operational details and safeguards, and presenters said next year will be an opt-in pilot focused on a limited…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
