Sierra’s Community Project

Introduction

Nestled in Saratoga County, the village of Ballston Spa was not a place I knew much about. Until accepting my fall posting at the High School, I had no cause to explore the area. As a result, I found that I had an incredibly narrow single story. I had it in my head that Ballston Spa was a wealthy suburban district, one composed of a largely affluent student population. In working through this community project, I learned much more about the area and dispelled that incredibly inaccurate myth.

Observations and Musings

When I asked a coworker where “the place to be” was for the students, I was directed to Coffee Planet. This cafe is undoubtedly the coolest I’ve been in and it boasts the most globes I’ve seen in one location. When I entered the building, I noticed first the devotion to local business. A sign visible through the front window boasts “Local” milk by “King Dairy”, a tack board by the bathroom is packed with cards for local businesses, and a small counter space in the main part of the cafe holds maps of the area and brochures for yet more local attractions and businesses. There’s a real sense of community here, emphasis being strongly put on supporting your local businesses. This feeling extends into the ambiance as well, the scattered barrel tables and chairs in addition to the aforementioned globes give the cafe a distinct and welcoming personality. I got the feeling that people in this village didn’t restrict shopping locally to small business Saturday, and they certainly supported more local businesses than I can say I do in my own community.

In my time at the cafe, I saw relatively few patrons who looked to be high school age. As I was there on a Monday just after lunch time and it was insanely hot outside, I assumed that this particular day just wasn’t a coffee-getting kind of day. However, I did see a few employees who seemed young enough to be high school age. A job here would be ideal for a student at Ballston Spa.

I noticed a girl seated near me who did appear high school age, likely a sophomore or junior. What caught my attention about this girl was that she was at the coffee house alone, having just had lunch and a large beverage while she played on her phone. The sight was not striking, but it reminded me very much of the students I’d seen at Guilderland and Bethlehem, two largely suburban (and well-off) schools. I felt my single story somewhat confirmed by this sighting and I wondered how many of my students would have iPhones, how many regularly grabbed that expensive coffee from Starbucks without thinking if they could afford it.

The area surrounding Coffee Planet offers a vape shop in plain view of this student frequented cafe as well as several local businesses and a few churches. One church in particular, The First Baptist Church, displayed a sign offering free summer lunches to kids 2-18. These observations on their own gave me an idea of the community I would be stepping into in the fall, but a conversation with a teacher at the school gave me far better insight into the daily lives of my students.

My stereotype of the suburban student at Ballston Spa is not incorrect, however it is far from indicative of the whole school. A substantial number of our students suffer from uncertain housing and cyclical poverty. So many, in fact, that there is a part time Homeless Student Liaison Coordinator and posters in the guidance office offer supports like the CAPTAIN program that helps with community human services. Additionally, about 30% of the student population uses free and reduced lunch services. According to my source, the massive gap between these two different student experiences is an area of tension that has been growing in the past few years.

Both of my sources, two veteran teachers at the school, agreed that while a lot is being done to help our struggling student population, more needs to happen. In particular, more mental health services were mentioned as an area of need for the school. This is something I’ve heard coming from a lot of schools lately as districts try to keep up with the demand for services. More and more students are in need of this help, not just at Ballston Spa but across the country.

Reflection

My experiences during this community project helped me get a clearer picture for who my students will be this coming fall. I don’t know their names yet, but I have an idea of what their experiences might be like. My students may have iPhones and regularly hit up Starbucks for the expensive lattes, or they might be struggling to find a meal for the evening.

Even given my assumption that Ballston Spa was a suburban school, I never believed that all of my students would have the same suburban experience, or even have the suburban experience at all. However, I still had a very narrow single story of what the “average” Ballston Spa student’s experience was. Having this starting point about the community in general will help me better get to know my students as the individuals they are.

Throughout this process, I found myself wondering how my students might be active in this community. Are there causes and organizations within Ballston Spa that my students might be working in or with? What kind of community engagement do my students have? Why do they or don’t they have that engagement? I’m looking forward to answering these questions this fall when I ask my students how they view themselves within the community.