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Essexville-Hampton Public Schools
The Essexville-Hampton Public School (EHPS) District was founded in 1964 with the mission of creating a collaborative environment that encourages every learner to reach their unique potential. The district serves 1500 students and hosts many local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and community sports and recreation programs. EHPS serves a mostly rural population and provides numerous opportunities for students to pursue their passions in academics, sports, fine arts, and clubs, having a total of 40 extra-curricular activities that exceed 80% student participation.
The community is centered around its school buildings. For example, the town shuts down each Friday night in the fall for home football games with nearly half the student body participating in the marching band, as a volunteer, or on one of the football, cheerleading, or dance teams. In the spring, the 1000-seat auditorium sells out 5 nights in a row for the musical production. There is not a single day of the year that EHPS facilities are not inhabited or utilized by students and community members. The EHPS school district is the backbone of the community and provides a place for residents to gather, laugh, cry, teach, learn, and form lifelong bonds.
EHPS offers a curriculum that is heavily focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for all K-12 students. As of 2018, 100% of elementary students receive weekly STEM classes in addition to standard math and science classes. They can join the robotics teams. Middle schoolers take computer and technology courses and are offered many after-school STEM activities including robotics, coding, and science competitions. At the high school level, students can engage in skilled trades, engineering, and technical education courses and participate in robotics and science competition teams. Regional partnerships with FIRST Robotics, Science Olympiad, STEM organizations, local associations, and colleges are cornerstones for the success of the STEM curriculum at EHPS.
In 2013, EHPS launched FIRST robotics at the secondary level and followed in 2016 with programs in the elementary and junior high. EHPS is 1 of only 6 districts in the state to offer FRC robotics in the winter to junior high students and is the only district in Michigan to offer an all-girls FTC robotics team. Over the past 10 years, the robotics program has expanded to include a coding club, offering free classes to a variety of local youth organizations, and providing safety training for regional teams. Since inception, competitive robotics at EHPS has seen a 350% increase in participation. The robotics team has also promoted safety and wellness at EHPS by obtaining funding for a therapy dog program to improve student mental health, redesigning the district’s Critical Incident Management Plan to be more accessible in classrooms, and stimulating school board policy to provide educator training for opioid overdose emergencies. Volunteers and high school participants in the robotics program have also obtained grants to mentor K-8 students from low-income families during out-of-school time. The robotics program has received local and national recognition for its efforts in safety and youth outreach. Overall, these accomplishments demonstrate the ability and experience of EHPS in successfully creating and scaling the impact of STEM activities and outreach initiatives in the community to train future STEM leaders and advance the STEM workforce pipeline.
EHPS views the addition of a regional STEM center building in the community as a way to continue educating, protecting, and meeting the growing needs of both the student and community populations and to combat the harmful impacts of the pandemic on education, economic prosperity, and wellness within the region. A STEM center facility would open opportunities for residents of the Great Lakes Bay Region in ways that currently cannot be found anywhere else in the immediate area.