When he stepped in as superintendent of
Sweeny (TX) ISD in May 2017, Dr. Tory C. Hill
didn’t immediately put his stamp on things. He
listened . . . and he learned . . . and he coupled
this new knowledge with the nuggets of
wisdom he had amassed in 16 years as a teacher,
assistant principal, principal, professional learning
administrator, and assistant superintendent.
Hill’s proactive, fact-gathering approach has
led to a clear plan for education in this small
Gulf Coast town, not far from the metropolis
of Houston. That plan is to educate Generation
Z students in new ways that best serve their
natural instincts and interests.
“With Generation Z, which is the majority of
students we serve today, they are more hands
on. They are more technology driven,” Hill said.
“Even the generation right before them, the
millennials, we consider them to be technology
driven, but now our students today can
multitask with so many different things. And so
the way we design learning experiences has to
be very, very, very different.”
Different as in creating a STREAM continuum at
the elementary level that flows into STEM at the
middle level and high school. Pitsco Education
STREAM Missions, STEM Units, and STEM in the
Gym™ were added at Sweeny Elementary School
for the 2017-18 school year, and they lead into
the previously added Pitsco STEM lab in middle
school. From there, students can enter focused
career pathways in high school, which cap K-12
vertical alignment that feeds neatly into programs
at nearby Brazosport College and then on to
careers with the area’s leading employers in
petrochemical and health care fields.
“One of the things that I’ve been focused
on is a very clear vertical alignment,” Hill said.
“Sweeny ISD is located right here on the Gulf
Coast, and the petrochemical industry is really the leading employer in our area. We are very
fortunate to have Phillips 66 and Chevron
Phillips right here in our school district, and
they are major employers. And our students, if
they choose to work in that industry, can really
make a decent living.”
That’s a noble goal, but reaching and
teaching today’s students must occur before
skills can be learned and jobs eventually filled.
Hill says Generation Z students have distinct
learning needs. Among these are three key
elements: student-centered learning, design-based
thinking, and collaboration.
The mantra in education is that today’s
students will work in a world that is nothing
like the one we live in. “But what does it take
to really get them there? How do we prepare
them for that?” Hill asks. “The first thing is just
student-centered learning, where the teacher
is really the coach and the facilitator, and the
students are driving that experience and have
a voice in their learning and the products that
show they’re learning.”
“Another element I think is important is design
thinking – giving our students an opportunity
to solve complex problems and think through
challenges, sort of giving them the skills to be
solution focused. Their future is not going to be
about regurgitating facts. It’s going to be about
really looking at problems and coming up with
solutions to address those issues.”
Enter the STREAM Missions lab and STEM
Units. “It’s not just the essential skills that
students are walking away with. They’re
learning. They’re gaining a soft skill, that
design-thinking component.”
Lastly is students learning how to collaborate
at a very young age, discussing and working
through challenges together. “We have learned
to rely a lot on technology, and many will
criticize our youth because they’re so engaged
in their phones or their technology that
sometimes they might lack those interpersonal
collaborative skills,” Hill said. “So, it’s important
that we strategically design learning
experiences and allow them to still gain those
skills through working together on projects.”
Hill’s insights into the needs of Generation
Z isn’t guesswork. Staff, community members,
and students themselves have told him. “I sat
down with about 12 elementary students my
first month here in Sweeny, and I asked them
simple questions – What do you love about your
school? If you could do anything to improve it,
what would it be? And what suggestions would
you give a new superintendent? I still have the
list to this day. The elementary students gave me
a list of 19 items that they wanted me to address,
and they weren’t items like the lunch food is
not good. They were very specific items such
as we want to be more engaged in the learning
experience. We want more hands-on learning.
And these are elementary kids.”
Similarly, Hill tunes in to what the region’s
largest employers need. “I serve on a community
advisory panel for both of these (petrochemical)
organizations, and so we talk three or four times
a year. We also have several of their key leaders,
including the plant managers and other public
relations staff, who serve on district committees
to help advise the school district.”
Proximity to Houston, one of the
leading health care regions in the world,
means health care education also is a
priority. “It connects back to the STREAM
lab because there are Missions related
to that line of work,” Hill said. “We have
a thriving health science program that
is growing exponentially. . . . It’s very
refreshing to see that we have such
a large number of students who are
now interested in the health sciences
pathway at the high school because
there will be a growing need for that.”
Well-thought-out changes are in
the works in Sweeny, Texas. More and
deeper classroom experiences will
lead to students making better choices
about their future.
“At the end of the day, our sole
purpose is to show that we’re preparing
students to create their future, that
we’re allowing them to engage in
learning experiences that will help
them reach their greatest potential,”
Hill said. “And how do we ensure that
we are preparing this student, this Gen
Z student, to create their future? The
types of learning design models that
we use have to be tailored to these
students that we serve.”