Starr

Name: Starr

Profession: Vice Principal of Polaris Expeditionary Learning School

I found Polaris last fall thanks to my good friend, colleague, and professor Linda Williams. This is a school of choice in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado that fosters a culture of equality, equity, inclusiveness, and curiosity. I was amazed at the enthusiasm students had for their education and for learning how to learn. Rather than pigeonholing teachers into teaching to the standards, educators are encouraged to explore student interests and be creative with their lesson plans. As a result, students learn to problem solve and think critically in the real world, leading to exceptional test scores. This school and its values reminded me just how beautiful education is and why I chose this profession. I got the chance to sit down with vice principal Starr Hill to talk about the philosophies and story of this school. For more info on Polaris and its philosophies, click here.

“Do you want to tell me a little bit about your experience with education?”

“Well I, unfortunately, have a sad story about how I got into education. I had a very difficult time in school, particularly in elementary school. I grew up with a very interesting home life. My parents were homesteaders, so we were off the grid. We lived in teepees, so no electricity, no plumbing, nothing like that. Going to school in a small mountain town, I was teased for having a weird name, being the smelly kid that smelled like woodsmoke, and things like that.

“My kindergarten teacher was not helpful. If I was spoken to in the classroom or someone was mean to me, I cried a lot and she would make me sit behind the trash can. It got to the point that I got to first grade and they wanted to hold me back. I was left handed, I was socially maladjusted because I didn’t feel like they treated me with respect. Because of this, they wanted to have me tested for special education and my dad came in and said, ‘If you’re going to do special education testing, you’re going to do IQ testing, because you can’t do one without the other.’

“So they did IQ testing and special education testing and they didn’t come up with any answers. I was considered what we now know as ‘twice exceptional,’ but they didn’t know what to do with that. They let me go to a classroom for gifted students and I sat there and read a book which is what I wanted to do in the first place. That problem continues to manifest itself throughout elementary school and by the time I got to sixth grade, I decided not to talk to anyone at school. I would later find out that this is called being ‘selectively mute’ and my gifted teacher would write to me in a journal and that was the only way I would communicate with anyone at school.

“We moved when I was finishing middle school and I started taking college classes at Colorado Mountain College. And those kids didn't care. They thought my name was cool, and that my life was interesting. There wasn’t that kind of judgement. Once I was in those college settings, I realized how different it was and that was what education was supposed to be. I actually went into photojournalism in college, and I just wasn’t having my bucket filled by that. But I also worked as a peer advisor, which basically means that I would wake people up and say, ‘Don’t go snowboarding, go to class!’ I discovered I was good at that, and asked myself why I wasn’t going into education. There were so many things wrong with my education that I wanted to do the work in order to make education better for everyone else.

“I studied English Education and that was a great experience. Then, I moved to Fort Collins and got a job at Centennial High School which is another choice school in town. This is actually my eighteenth year in education. I started teaching young and because I was a little off buble, I found that kids who had those kinds of needs were drawn to me and saw that as a safe place. After I taught for a couple years, I went to CSU o get my masters in composition and rhetoric thinking that would turn me to college. Then, I thought about going into curriculum. Maybe curriculum’s the problem with all the textbooks we shove down kids’ throats and the worksheets they do. I wanted to have a hand in making that system better. I went and got my principal's license and started doing work at the district level and very quickly found that the bureaucracy wasn’t for me.

“I realized that kids this age need that love and support I could offer. So I was teaching in schools and I would push back against my administration and they would say, ‘Starr, we know that these things need to change, but we can’t help you.’ So I said, ‘Fine. Then I’m going to go be a principal who lets my teachers do what they need to do. After thirteen years of trying to find what would work for me, and finding a space where I could create an environment where my teachers can work and I can trust them to do their jobs, I finally found a school that can do that, Polaris.

“I’m actually writing a memoir about how my childhood influences my philosophy because regardless of its positive or negative impacts on my life, it has brought me to where I am and molded me as an educator and as a person. I’m sorry to shed a negative light on this institution, but I don’t think I’m alone. I think there are many people that have been impacted negatively by their school experience, but I don’t think it’s purposeful. I think it’s due to ignorance. ”

“Thank you for sharing that with me. Everyone that I have interviewed has told me stories of how they have felt mistreated by the system in one way or another. And if there was understanding, we could solve so many problems.

“So then you got to Polaris. Do you want to tell me about the philosophy and the community you have created here?”

“We do a lot of thematic learning in that we immerse our students in the learning with hands-on projects. For example, we are working closely with the Poudre River Project. We also have intensives that are three times a year for a week where we turn off 6-12 grade classrooms and teachers get to lead projects that their passionate about. For example, we have art intensives where they travel to see galleries, scuba certification intensives where they restore coral, snowy range backpacking, canoeing in Moab, and so many more. It’s all about getting them to love their education and how to love their learning. And they raise all of the money for these instensives through fundraising.

“Of course, that’s only three weeks out of the year. The rest of the year, we look pretty traditional. Our uniqueness lies in the way we scaffold our community. We are lucky to be so small, but in the middle of amazing opportunities. If this were a huge school, we wouldn’t have these opportunities. I get to know every kid’s name. There’s a beauty in the K-12 connectivity. To watch our students grow is amazing. We also want to create a safe environment for kids who wouldn't thrive in the traditional school setting. ‘At risk,’ is a silly term for students and we don’t believe in that terminology. Our population is continuously changing as parents are realizing that there are other options. Many of our students are members of the LGBTQ+ community, on free and reduced lunch, and children of CSU professors.

“I think we have created a community of diversity, inclusion, and acceptance of a wide range of people and abilities and I think there is something so truly beautiful in that.”