JEFFERSON COUNTY — Columbine students received an interesting challenge during their lunch break last week: play a game of Mario Kart without crashing while receiving text messages on their phone.
A group of four students is leading a charge to discourage classmates from texting and driving, doing a large portion of their outreach the week leading up to prom.
“I’ve definitely been impacted,” said junior Jake Barela DeHerrera. “I’m not going to text and drive. I know it will make me a better driver. … That little second guess hopefully prevents something bad.”
The group is one of 16 teams doing civic-oriented projects; each team will give a presentation about their work as part of the . Each team is composed of three or four students who work on a project to impact the community and later compete for scholarship money.
The groups compete against one another. The top five groups from Columbine will give their presentations Tuesday in the auditorium. The winning group will receive a trip to the state competition against 12 other schools on May 13, with more scholarships on the line.
Columbine business teacher Bryan Halsey started the Big Idea Project in 2010, which two years ago became a nonprofit led by Halsey and his wife, Tricia. After a few years of internal competition, other schools caught wind and wanted in. Halsey said the other schools — from five school districts and a private school — have their own internal competition to decide who goes to state.
“The goal is to impact one person — every team is successful in that,” Halsey said. “Some impact thousands, some just a handful. It’s a challenging project and they grow a lot.”
Halsey and another teacher have the students in their business leadership classes break into groups and decide what type of project to do. They range from literacy awareness to working with the homeless to helping immigrants and detainees.
Students spend a good portion of their semester working on the project, planning events, meeting with a mentor and working on a video presentation.
The goal is not to have the programs be sustainable, but mostly to give the students confidence that they can build something.
“It might not be a huge thing down the road, but they feel like they can do something,” Halsey said.
Fellow Columbine business teacher Clay Thielking is working with the Big Idea Project for the first time and said the confidence he sees the students gain is impressive.
“It’s rejuvenated me a bit — it’s really inspiring,” Thielking said. “I’ve seen some break out of their shell a little bit and build their communication skills.”
When the students present their project, they are judged in 10 categories by business leaders and Columbine Principal KC Somers. At state, more business professionals have been selected to judge and select a winner.
Columbine’s group won the state competition last year. Students partnered with Craig Hospital to bring awareness to wheelchair accessibility and support people with spinal injuries.
Somers has supported the program since coming on board last year, as did previous principal Frank DeAngelis.
“Columbine has always been about engaging in the community and giving back — it’s one of the coolest things we do. Bryan has been instrumental in that,” Somers said. “There’s no greater pride as a principal than to see kids exercise what they might not have thought was possible.”
Halsey said the best projects usually stem from students who have an experience to draw on, citing a past project working with the homeless where one of the students in the group had been homeless for a short period.
Another one of this year’s groups is doing outreach to help those struggling with body image and diseases such as anorexia. One of the students in that group said she had struggled with that and wants to help sufferers before the condition gets too bad.
“Everyone deals with self-consciousness in some way,” senior Allison Dolloff said. “We are trying to change the idea.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or @joe_vacc
Columbine high school big idea project presentation night
When: 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, May 10
Where: Columbine High School auditorium, 6201 S. Pierce St., Littleton
State Finals
When: 7-9 p.m., Friday, May 13
Where: Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, Lakewood
