BELLVILLE — Tim Conklin popped the hood of his teacher’s car and pointed to a clear plastic receptacle.
“This is our wiper fluid reservoir,” he said, flipping the cap open and miming the action of pouring in fluid.
His classmate Reece Cook watched as Conklin pointed out various features under the hood, demonstrating how to check the oil and hook up jumper cables.
Basic auto maintenance is just one thing students learn in the Skills Prep elective at Clear Fork High School.
Cook missed the under-the-hood day of class, so teacher Tami Vaughn had another student walk her through what the students had learned.
After all, Skills Prep is all about fostering independence in everyday tasks.
Over the course of the school year, students learn how to use a credit card, budget and register to vote. They talk about what to do if you get pulled over or encounter a funeral procession while driving. During election season, they research candidates and look up their polling place. They research career options and write resumes.
“The kids really like having the opportunity to look at careers, so we try to do some of that every week or two,” she said. “There’s so many jobs that are coming up that we don’t even know about yet. I don’t want them to limit themselves to things that may be outdated soon.”
Vaughn developed the course about four or five years ago, modeling it off a course she observed as a student teacher in Fredericktown. She estimated about 50 students take the course each year. While this year’s class is mostly boys, Vaughn said there’s typically a pretty good mix of boys and girls.
“There’s so many practical items that the kids don’t learn about in school,” Vaughn said. “They never say, ‘I’m never going to use that in my life. Why do I have to learn this?'”
Skills Prep is a class of Vaughn’s creation, not based on a textbook or purchased curriculum. Instead, she simply teaches what she believes students need to know — and what students ask to learn about.
“I actually proposed it to be a half year class, but it got put in as an all year class. So I didn’t have all the material I needed the first year and that’s how we ended up having the students use their ideas,” she said.
“I periodically put out a survey and ask them if there’s anything they want to learn about. If it’s something I can do, we do it.”
Some of the student-suggested topics Vaughn has incorporated include how to write a check, apply for a work permit and do taxes.
Students say they appreciate the practicality of the course.
“It shows you real experiences and what you’ll actually need in life,” Cook said.
Principal Brian Brown said it’s an opportunity to teach students skills adults take for granted.
“The students appear to appreciate the immediate application of the material as it helps them to achieve success in some very common day-to-day activities,” Brown said.
Although all Ohio high schoolers have to take a financial literacy class to graduate, Vaughn’s students get some extra practice with computer games that simulate the stock market and a real life budget.
“You have to pay your bills on time or you get penalized. If you pay things on time and you use your money wisely, you can increase your salary,” Vaughn said, describing the budgeting game. “You get a credit score.”
Vaughn said the game demonstrates that cheap doesn’t always mean better. If your avatar buys a cheap backpack, it may rip. If you purchase a bed at a yard sale, you might bring it home to find the legs have fallen off.
Most Skills Prep students said their favorite lessons so far have been auto maintenance tasks like checking their fluids and changing a tire.
Before the class went back inside on an unseasonably warm February day, sophomore Ben Campbell asked Vaughn if the class could take a look at his 2002 Chevy Cavalier.
“Her name’s LeBron because she’s an O.G. Cavalier,” he said.
LeBron’s check engine light was on and Campbell wasn’t quite sure why. Conklin pulled out the dipstick to check the oil. A group of boys huddled around the hood to check it out, positing that the air filter might need replaced.
Vaughn looked at the filter and concurred.
“You’ve got a lot of leaves and sticks in there,” she said. “If your air filter’s got a bunch of those in it, that could be a problem.”
