In early December, Southern Lehigh High School was recognized as an Exemplar of 21st Century Learning by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. Southern Lehigh is one of four schools in Pennsylvania and one of 17 schools across the nation to have received this recognition.

“It is the culmination of a lot of work on the part of the students, teachers, [and] administration to embrace 21st century learning. It also takes a supportive school board to allow us to take these kinds of risks to make positive change,” district superintendent Dr. Leah Christman said.  “I think it is easy to continue doing what you’ve always done – especially when it appears to be successful. But, I also know that the world our students are entering…is vastly different than what many adults experienced as young people, and it will continue to change at amazing rates mostly due to technology.”

The 21st Century Learning Exemplar Program aims to provide examples for other schools of what innovative, future-oriented schools do to make their students successful later in life. Schools wishing to be considered for the program must submit an application, which is followed by an evaluator’s visit to the school.  Evaluators look for a commitment to career and college readiness, access to 21st century learning, knowledge, skills, and educational support systems.

“We have provided the teachers more professional development on problem-based learning and  time to collaborate with each other to develop more learning activities that are student-centered, real-life hands-on, and problem-based related to the content,” Dr. Christman said. “We believe that the combination of content driven learning strategies with a focus on the other 21st century skills will give our students a competitive advantage in their futures.”

At the high school, teachers and staff have been working to prepare students for life beyond their secondary education through graduation and final projects, the one-to-one student laptop ratio, dual-enrollment programs with LCTI, Lehigh, DeSales, Penn State, and LCCC, as well as global experiences such as teacher exchange programs, the Global Nomads video conferencing project with students from the middle east, and EF Tours to Europe and the South Pacific.

“With the 21st century skills, we are having [the students] collaborate, research, and present,” high school principal Mrs. Christine Siegfried said. “[The work world is] very different than it used to be. In jobs you’re constantly networking with people. All of the global experiences that we can bring in for our students just to expose them to that before they leave us is huge.”

“It’s going to put those schools and students [who do not engage in 21st century learning] behind a bit. They’re going to need to work harder to obtain jobs, get into college, and show that they know what they’re doing,” science teacher Mr. Rick Dreves said.  “The learning curve is going to be greater, especially in internships. Our students would excel faster and get the job sooner versus having a larger learning curve and having to figure it all out.”

Southern Lehigh administration is tremendously proud of all of the work that the faculty and staff have put into making the schools the best that they can be.

“This was not something that happened overnight,” Mrs. Siegfried said. “It’s transformed over the past [three to five years] and I think our teachers have done a phenomenal job at changing the things at SLHS. They have changed professionally at offering students with a top-notch education.”