Myla Bates dumps dirt into the base hole that will hold a disc golf basket, which is held by Jacob Shaffer. Also shown are, from left, Kaleb Nuel, Max Leeworthy and Joe Meyer.
There was a hard and fast academic component to Brookfield High School’s summer enrichment program – stress content standards in English, math and technology – but officials did not want it to be just another day in class. They wanted it to be fun.
School officials found a happy medium in assigning the students to build a disc golf course.
The students designed the three-hole course and came up with a budget and a material list, said Joe Meyer, high school career-based intervention teacher.
“They (students) planned everything out – they created score cards, they placed the hole locations, they figured out the rules, the figured out how challenging each one should be without interfering with anything,” said high school math teacher Jacob Shaffer. “They’ve basically done everything.”
The students completed the work in eight days.
The disc golf baskets were made from plastic pipe, garbage can lids and landscaping pond basins, swing chains and zip ties, and fit into larger-diameter pipes set in the ground in the field behind the school. The baskets can be lifted out if they interfere with a school activity.
“They taught us how to use the drill and a lot of the tools we used to make it,” said freshman Kaleb Nuel.
The students also used posthole diggers and shovels to place the baskets in the ground.
“I thought it was pretty cool that we get to do stuff on our own, and get to choose stuff that we want to do, and build stuff, as well,” said freshman Myla Bates, who, like Kaleb, had not been aware of disc golf prior to the project.
“I like that it incorporated multiple things into just one small period,” said freshman Max Leeworthy. “We got to do stuff on computers, we got to do budgeting, we got to look up what we needed to buy, we got to also work on making them. It was an overall fun experience.”
If the course goes over well, it can easily be expanded, and the expansion would be a great project for future classes, Shaffer said.
“We’re looking forward to all the PE classes and elementary students to be able to earn some time to come out and play,” he said. “It’s for the district.”
