Community Assets Profile: Ridgeway* High School

*Ridgeway is a pseudonym for the purpose of this assignment and to keep confidentiality.
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 2

Part 1: Community/District/School Classroom Profile

*Ridgeway City School district is a fascinating town to be student teaching in. The town

of Ridgeway consists of an interesting demographic of people. With a little over 3,600 people in

the town, about 12% of the population live below the poverty line, according to statistics from

“Data USA: Ridgeway, NY”. It is encouraging however, to see that there has been about a 7%

growth in employment. According to the statistics from the Census Bureau found in the “Data

USA: Ridgeway, NY” website, White residents represent about 62%, Asia residents represent

about 26%, Hispanic residents represent about 8% and Black residents represent about 3% of the

population in Ridgeway, NY. Also, according to “Data USA: Ridgeway, NY” people in

Ridgeway have a median property value of $315,200, which is more than the national average.

What I found most interesting in this research was that it appears on average most homes only

have one car per household. All of this information is vital to learning about the students that

make up Ridgeway City School District. I find the car information particularly interesting

because it shows that not every household owns more than one car. This could be due to a

numerous amount of reasons, yet it is important to remember that if students are required to stay

after school, they might have a more difficult time getting home.

Ridgeway High school’s (RHS) demographics, however, vary since the size of the high

school is smaller than the population of the town. According to NYSED for Ridgeway High

school, there are 325 students, of those students 54% are male and 46% are female. More

demographics from NYSED include, 88% of the students represented as White, 3%

Multicultural, 3% Asian or Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander, 2% Black or African American,

3% Hispanic or Latino, and 1% American Indian or Alaskan Native. According to the data, there

are a significantly smaller number of students of color than White students, making a majority of
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 3

students in each classroom White. There are 12% of students classified with learning disabilities

and 21% of the students are considered economically disadvantaged. According to NYSED, this

school has a graduation rate of 96%, which is very good to see.

Ridgeway is an amazing school to be a part of. I was fortunate to witness the school

musical, which a lot of my students starred in and they have days like C-Day, which stands for

community day, in which students and teachers can attend workshops throughout the day, where

they can relax and have fun, or learn something new. It is about mixing up friend groups and

allowing students to make connections with new friends as well as break from the traditional

school week. While I believe C-Day only happens once a year, it is important to learn and note

that it is completely run by students and one staff member. The students of the Race, Class, and

Gender cohort, spend the year creating contacts, planning and organizing the day, as well as

planning activities for their classmates and teachers. It was an amazing and fun day to be a part

of at Ridgeway, and I also had the opportunity to talk more candidly with students and build

relationships outside of the classroom.

Of the five classes that I will be teaching, one of the classes is an English Honors class.

Most of the classes have about twelve to fifteen students in them except for the honors class

which has about twenty-three students. There is also one class that is co-taught where a majority

of the students have specific accommodations. The co-taught class and designated special

education teacher for the students in eleventh grade helps to make accommodations on

assignments and knows how to check in with the students who benefit from one on one attention.

Having three people in this class, is actually beneficial because it allows each student to be heard

and catered to for their individual learning needs. Each classroom has a cart of Chromebook that

can be used during most lessons, Ms. Huskie, has switched almost entirely to Google Classroom,
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 4

which means that the students receive all their information for English through this online

webpage where they receive their assignments, grades, worksheets, announcements, etc. It is

really great for students to be able to access their work at home or on their own devices, yet it

may also be more difficult for the students who might not have computer access within their

homes, so it is important to know how to create these accommodations ahead of time.

Part 2: Exploration of Community Assets

Asset 1: Advocacy Group- Take Back The Night/Advocacy Center

In a student survey, I asked the students what activities they were involved in after

school. I wanted answers that either involved after school clubs, sports, work, or passions they

might be interested in. In a couple of the students’ survey’s they wrote “Take Back the Night” as

a club or activity. I did not have time to get a response on the survey directly, yet on C-Day when

I had the opportunity to discuss with students more freely, I was able to learn not only what it

was, but also that it is bigger than just an RHS event. After doing some research this is what I

learned. According to the Take Back the Night website, (TBTN) events started in the 1960s

regarding women’s safety over in European counties, yet it was not until 1973, where women

marched in Florida for their right for a women’s center. Specifically, TBTN’s mission is to end

all forms of sexual violence against women and to help create a unifying support team for those

who unfortunately have faced a terrible circumstance. It is an event where victims of sexual

violence can take back their voices, share their stories, and speak out about the crimes committed

against them. After learning about this information, I then researched how Ridgeway students

were involved in TBTN, it appears more commonly to be an event central to college and

university students. While I did not have an opportunity to sit in on a meeting for this event, I did

notice that some members of the TBTN committee had a workshop on C-Day about the event. It
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 5

details, “Come and learn all about Take Back the Night, an annual march dedicated to ending

sexual abuse and domestic violence. This year’s march will be held on April 27th, 2018. Help

craft posters, design stickers, and learn to use a button maker to raise awareness about the event”

(C-Day Handout). I thought this was an awesome way to raise awareness since it is run by a

student that attends RHS and a member from the advocacy center. After talking with this student

who ran her workshop on C-Day, I asked if it was a staff member from RHS that helped with the

planning and apparently it is mostly helped run through the Advocacy Center and a student from

Cornell who is an intern for the TBTN foundation. Learning about the student’s involvement of

this in high school really made me happy to see youth activism. According to the TBTN local

youth organizations, like RHS, are involved in this event, that takes place late April. There will

be performers, survivors, and a march to show support for those who need it. It takes place at

night in the Commons, which I thought was an interesting fact about the Ridgeway involvement,

yet the more I look into the student survey’s and lives, I am learning that their lives in Ridgeway

are not tied to Ridgeway alone. Students travel all around surrounding towns, which is something

I had yet to consider from my other placements.

Asset 3: Recreational Spaces

The four recreational spaces that I think are important for the Ridgeway community, do not

solely reside within Ridgeway. I have learned through a student survey written by each student

about recreational places that they attend in their free time. The most popular ones included the

Ridgeway Community Library, Greek Peak, Myers Park, and the Community Recreation Center.

The space that I am choosing is the Community Recreation Center. I think that this is an

interesting place because it is located in Ridgeway and is used most primarily for sports related

events, which are vital and essential to the RHS community. The purpose of this recreational
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 6

center is for sports teams to sign up and pay for scheduled times on The Rink or The Field. The

Rink, is mostly for hockey players or other recreational sports teams. Families and friends can

even sign up to have their birthday party at either of these places. The field is more specifically

used by lacrosse, soccer, and baseball leagues. It is an indoor field, and according to some

discussions with my mentor teacher and students, it is also an expensive place to rent out for a

team to use. I think that this recreational space is vital and important to the community because

so much of RHS life is centered around sports teams and events. In order for students to practice

in the off seasons, they will have to use these facilities to practice their skills.

Part 3: Implications and Considerations for the Future

I feel as though I am constantly bringing my own biases into the classroom, based on

where I grew up, where I have gone to college, and how I have learned to conduct and participate

in conversations with others. One thing that I find myself most intrigued by, are the varying

opinions relating to gun control that is becoming more and more of a “hot topic” especially in

schools. While it is clear some students and I share similar opinions, I have to continue to

acknowledge that we come from different backgrounds with different experiences. I have some

students that are participants in the conversation relating to gun control and want to see a change,

and then other students who participate in the conversation based on their own positive gun

related experiences and want to see a different kind of change. This is an interesting middle

ground to find myself in as the teacher. While the conversation has yet to become a talk in one of

our Non-Fiction Friday’s, in which students discuss an article read by the entire class and two

students lead the conversation, it is still prevalent in many side conversations. I find that I have

to remove my bias and opinion in situations like these because I do not want to become a one-

sided teacher, especially when all students have varying opinions and ideas. I think it is a
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 7

learning experience that I have to consider and choose my discussions wisely. I must consider

what I want to be known for as a teacher. Someone who hears and listens to the opinions of

others, or a teacher who has a very strong bias of only one idea.

I find that the Ridgeway community is similar to my own high school experiences, yet

still different from what I remember about high school. The community for starters, is a lot

smaller, yet that only makes the relationships between students that much more interesting. I

think that this high school level, I see students engaging in relationships with their friends a lot

more differently, which I find fascinating and very insightful for each student. Before applying to

a job, I think it is very important for me to do background on that job, not just about the school,

but through the recreational websites associated within the town. To find information about the

superintendent and what they believe about school policy. I think that there is a lot more out

there than just the school website and it takes some extra effort to spend time on learning about

who actually lives in the town that I am seeking to work in. What are the socio-economic

demographics like, what does this mean for the students that I will be teaching? How can I adapt

my lessons with heavy technology use to one where technology might not be the school’s sole

focus? All of this matters to the people who are going to hire me and the students who will

hopefully rely on me to trust their hometown because for some of them it is all they know. In the

student survey, I asked the students what is one thing that they want me to know about them.

Some students wrote very personal responses while others glazed over the question all together. I

thought that allowing students to think about themselves and wonder what do they want to know

about me, and how can I bring that awareness into the classroom and into their hometown. I also

allowed the students to ask me a question that they might have. A lot of the questions were about

college life and how I came to be where I am today, yet one student in particular was curious
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 8

about what I thought about Ridgeway, and I feel like that is so important and reflective of not

only my response, but also, that they are curious about what an outsider like me, might think of

their town. Some of the questions that I have during an interview have stayed the same, like the

relationship between administrators and faculty is still something I am curious about. I see a

really different relationship between faculty and administrators at RHS than at my former

placement, neither is better than the other, they are simply different. I would be curious to ask

about what resources are available to students that I can provide them with, like technology or

books, etc. I am curious also to know how strictly the school would have their teachers provide

lesson plans to administrators? Would teachers have to follow a strict schedule of teaching or is

there more freedom in what can be taught, as long as it is in budget and meeting the state

standards? I think it is more important than ever to emphasize the importance of community in a

classroom, with regards to the student’s home lives as well as the communities they are actively

involved in. By incorporating this knowledge into a lesson or unit, students would feel more

cared for by the teacher and be able to make more personal connections to what they are

learning.
 COMMUNITY ASSETS PROFILE 9

References

About us. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Take Back the Night website:

https://takebackthenight.org/board/

Community Recreation Center. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Community Recreation Center

Data USA: Ridgeway, NY. (2015). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Data USA website:

Greek Peak Mountain Resorts. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Greek Peak Mountain Resorts

History. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Ridgeway Community Library website:

Join the Community Collective. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Take Back the Night website:

Ridgeway High School-School Report Card Data (2016-17). (2017). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from

Data.nysed.gov

Myers Park. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Town of Ridgeway, NY Parks and Recreation

Our Services. (2018). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from Advocacy Center website: