Socorro ISD: Purple Heart Elementary the first of it’s kind in El Paso
Socorro Independent School District is opening a new elementary school this spring. The district is touting it as the only one of its kind in El Paso.
It’s called Purple Heart Elementary since it’s right in the heart of Fort Bliss. The school is located near North Montana and Rich Beem, in front of the new movie theaters in Far East.
Forget coloring, these kindergartners will be attending career days.
“We’re going to open up with the idea that college begins in kindergarten,” said Purple Heart Principal Jennifer Parker.
Parker wants her young students to walk into Purple Heart, already thinking about college.
“They are going to be exposed to all of the endorsements of House Bill 5,” Parker said.
Remember according to the new education law, high schoolers must choose an endorsement, or focus, to graduate in. They can pick from STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), Business and Industry, Art and Humanities, Public Service, or a multidisciplinary track, encompassing parts of the four others.
Parker though, says there’s no reason not to expose kids to these fields now.
“By the time they end or conclude their elementary years with us in middle school,” Parker said, “they would have experienced all the endorsements of HB5, which is what they need to prepare themselves for college.”
Curriculum at Purple Heart Elementary will be intertwined with each field for each grade.
For example: kinder and first grade will study Public Service, second grade studies Arts and Humanities, third grade studies Multidisciplinary Studies, fourth grade studies Business and Industry, and fifth grade studies STEM.
STEM-endorsed Fifth graders will study Financial literacy. Their final project will be creating a new product. So in math, they’ll have to create and maintain a budget. In science, they’ll work on the product. In language arts, the students will work on their “pitch.”
Not only that, but students will have guest speakers and field trips associated with their grade’s focus. The campus is also an open collaborative design, with open pod areas where students from all grades levels, can learn together.
“I’m really excited about it,” Parker said.
The campus will also expand after the next bond election, to include a middle school, with the same endorsement opportunities. Keep in mind, eight grades have to choose their endorsement for high school. At this school, Parker said, they will be more than ready to do that.
