Apr 14
3
Soldotna High School freshmen iNspire
Soldotna High School (SoHi) freshmen surprise Mr. Walton with a freshly painted ceiling tile with the iNspire logo and their handprints, demonstrating their personal commitment to make a positive difference.
Freshmen students at Soldotna High School (SoHi) discovered a new resource to find inspiration: themselves. Soldotna English teacher Matt Walton recently designed a website specifically to showcase freshmen students who achieve success in academics, sports, or extra-curricular activities, overcome a personal challenge, or perform a good deed. Walton says, “I wanted to design an inspirational website for our freshmen that would be student driven through their own personal success stories. I called the site iNspire, as in I inspire, which in itself represents the central theme of the website.”
As Walton hears of or discovers a new student achievement, with that student’s permission, he uploads a picture or video of the student, along with a brief summary of the student achievement into his website and then links the site to his class webpage. Once a student story is uploaded to the iNspire webpage, Walton informs SoHi counselor Erin Neisinger of the new student entry, and she then places a “positive home call” to that student’s parents.
Response to the iNspire website has been extremely positive as students see and read about themselves and their peers’ accomplishments. Walton stresses, “A good self-image is absolutely essential to any student’s success, and this website offers our freshmen the opportunity to see themselves in a favorable light and for them to also consider the value of working hard to achieve a goal or overcome a personal challenge.” He adds, “If it is true that what we focus on we give power to, then iNspire is an opportunity for our SoHi freshmen class to focus on their positive achievements and to realize that they have the choice to iNspire not only for their good, but also for the good of others.”
Visit the iNspire website
