Hinsdale D86 To Mix Geometry, Construction

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale High School District 86 is poised to go the extra mile in drilling down on geometry concepts – applying them to actual construction.

Next year, the district plans to offer Geometry in Construction at Hinsdale Central and South high schools. Under the plan, students will get credit for both geometry and woodworking, with teachers representing both disciplines. Given the construction part of the course, it is set to last two periods.

Officials said initial surveys showed students were "very interested" in such a class. They plan to offer one session of the class at each campus.

The course proposal was presented at Monday's school board meeting. It was well-received by board members, who are set to vote on it at a later meeting.

"I'm really excited to see this course run," said member Kay Gallo, who was connected to the meeting remotely. "I clearly remember my geometry class. I clearly remember my architecture class. They were wonderful. If we had something like (Geometry in Construction), that would be even better."

Board President Catherine Greenspon wanted to make sure the course would be run at both campuses.

"If we're going to run it at one campus, we need to run it at the other, even if we have only six kids in it," she said.

Because South has far fewer students, many classes end up not running due to a lack of enrollment.