Photo by Brandon Dill
The Crosstown Concourse towers high over its neighbors and, since its revitalization after years of standing abandoned, flourishes. The sprawling space houses more than 40 businesses and nonprofits specializing in the arts, healthcare, dining, and more. And with the start of the new school year, new neighbors have moved into the 4th and 5th floors, beginning an exciting chapter for a fresh group of 9th graders, the first class of Crosstown High School.
On a Friday in early July, the expanse of the school is not yet abuzz with the 150 students soon to come; the few voices in our group echo in the quiet hallways as we tour and talk about plans for this “school of the future.” The core building blocks are in place — tables, chairs, computers, equipment — but some work is still being done before the first school bell rings on July 30th for “disorientation week” (and the first official day of class on August 6th). In a windowed, technology-centered room, a recent Lausanne graduate and “augmented reality expert,” Ethan, works with a group of kids finishing up a weeklong AR camp, where activities included creating holograms and working with 3D printers.
Come August, this is just one type of work in which students will be immersed. In addition to project-based learning in core classes, students will have an “X period,” one-hour class blocks designed for exploring their interests. “As students are accepted, they complete a survey asking about the things that they’re already doing and want to keep doing and get better at,” says Ginger Spickler, our tour guide and Crosstown High’s director of strategic partnerships and projects, “and what are the things they’re curious about that they’d like to explore.”
Bryan Rollins
These classes, where focus can range from culinary arts and graphic design to healthcare and entrepreneurship, won’t be part of a student’s transcript but will allow students to choose the projects they’re working on. “Those are projects that have been pitched by businesses and nonprofits — mostly right now in the building,” Spickler says. “One of the things we heard from students was that they wanted to be involved in real-world work, and a big part is finding opportunities for them to hone their skills and try things out. So by the time they graduate, they can narrow in on what they might want to do with their lives, and whatever their next steps are, it’s a better investment of their time.”
Crosstown High School, a public charter school, currently a one-school charter management organization (CMO), was born, in part, from the XQ Super School Project. The XQ project was a contest to reimagine public high school and design “the school of the future,” sponsored by the Emerson Collective, a foundation of Learning Town Jobs. “We saw this and thought it was a really incredible opportunity to think about what a high school that was going to serve 21st century students could look like,” says Spickler.
The group was asked to talk with the people whom the school was going to affect. “We talked to representatives from all of the businesses that were going to be a part of the Crosstown Concourse. We talked to community leaders,” Spickler says. “Probably most importantly we talked to about 200 students, either directly or through surveys and focus groups. We talked to kids from 5th grade up through young college students.” They also spoke to educators in Memphis and beyond, from different types of schools.
Photo by Brandon Dill
“Everything that became a part of the model for the school originated from what we heard during those initial interviews,” she says.
Another point heard from those interviews — “from literally a fifth grader to a CEO,” says Spickler — is that students need to know how to get along with people who are not just like them.
“There’s a lot of segregation in the schools in our community,” she notes. “They wanted us to get away from segregating based on academics, based on socio-economic status.”
Crosstown High has a “Diverse by Design” school model, with aim for its students to reflect the diversity of the community. “We’re a charter school, so we don’t have any sort of application requirement. There are no GPA or test score requirements, no address [requirements]. It’s pure lottery,” says Spickler. “Anybody who applied was put in the lottery — if you were zoned to a Shelby County school. If you were zoned to a municipal school, you had to be at the bottom of the list just based on state law.”
Spickler says a close eye was kept on where applications were coming from, and the school focused on outreach to different communities. “That was hard work. It’s going to continue to be hard work every year because we will continue to do that,” says Spickler. “We think it’s worth it because we want our students to learn with and from the cross-section of the diversity of Memphis.”
Photo by Bryan Rollins
Crosstown High School Principal Dr. Chandra Sledge Mathias looks forward to the new School year.
Beyond the classroom, the school hopes to make use of its collaborative efforts and project-based learning platform to look at education as a way to impact and transform the community. Dr. Chandra Sledge Mathias, Crosstown High School’s principal who relocated from Warrenton, North Carolina, where she was principal from 2014-2017 of Warren New Tech High School, a project-based learning school and member of the New Tech Network, says this platform will also give the students empowerment.
“Students are getting exposed to different opportunities. They’ll have their core curriculum, but outside of that they’ll have opportunities to explore their interests,” Mathias says. “Then there’s also the conversation of equity and social justice, and what do you do with this knowledge that you have? How will you use your power as a global citizen to have a real impact? What does it mean for a 14-year-old to do that? Who are the advocates you can reach out to? What resources are available to you? We’re building that time into our school day.”
Photo by Tonya Thompson
Mathias says she and the school’s group of teachers are excited to get started. “We’re a quirky bunch,” she says. “They’re all very adventurous and are coming with a variety of talents, both inside and outside of the classroom. We looked for people who have other things that they can bring to the table outside of, ‘I teach English’ or ‘I teach history.’
“Do you teach English and also play the banjo while riding a hoverboard? You do? Awesome. You should work at Crosstown High,” Mathias says with a chuckle.
The group looks forward to working with its first students. “We have a strong first class,” says Mathias. “They’re creative. They’re go-getters. We have some who are kind of shy. I’m excited to see them transition.”
The school’s orientation — called “disorientation” — is July 30th through August 2nd. Students will begin working on projects during this time. The school’s first exhibition of projects will take place August 10th, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
“That’ll be their first showcase to show the community what they’ve been working on,” says Mathias. “We wanted to throw them in the deep end of the pool of project-based learning. We want them to be uncomfortable and to start problem-solving with each other. We want them to get frustrated and then work through those challenges.
“I think some really exciting thing are going to come.”