How different is Niles New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy from a traditional school?

In the mind of at least one student, it’s very different.

“Amazingly so,” said freshman Andrew Bartkowiak, who enrolled in New Tech in the fall. “We are learning things in a totally different way.”

Barkowiak and fellow Niles New Tech freshman Katelyn Mueller spoke about their New Tech experience during Tuesday’s Niles Noon Optimist Club lunch.

Niles New Tech Director Patrick Malley, also present at the lunch, explained that Niles Community Schools is offering the academy for the first time this year. There are 125 students enrolled in the school, located in a 10,000-square-foot wing inside Niles High School.

A core philosophy behind the New Tech model, Malley explained, is students are given a problem to solve before they receive instruction from the teachers on how to solve it.

The students, usually in groups, then decide what information they need to know in order to solve the problem. Once this “need to know” list is created, instructors develop a lesson plan to teach the students what they need to know. Students then go about completing the project, which often includes a public presentation.

For instance, Mueller said in MathMath class (a combination of geometry and algebra) students are trying to figure out how tall a giant baseball bat is based on several pictures of it. Students developed a need-to-know list and received more pictures, including one of a six-foot-tall man standing a certain distance from the bat.

“From there, we should be able to solve it,” Mueller said.

Students are also given more freedom and accountability at New Tech than at a traditional school, Malley said.

Students receive trust cards that allow them certain privileges, like being able to use the restroom without asking or listening to their iPod. If they break the trust, the card is taken away.

“The agreement here is that you are going to do all those things at an appropriate time,” Malley said.

While working in groups, students have the ability to kick another student out of the group if that student is not pulling his or her weight.

“I think the level of maturity is so much higher than you would find in a traditional classroom,” Mueller said. “Our students know what is expected of them and that they need to be there. Otherwise, they are going to get the work done that they need to do.”

The Niles Optimist Club meets every Tuesday at 12:10 p.m. in the Bell Building, located on the corner of Third and Sycamore streets in Niles. They usually have guests speak at the end of the meeting.