The Ice Box

Recently I was watching a program about antiques. The individuals on the program discovered antique ice boxes which had been stored for years in an old barn out in the country. The program brought back memories of stories my grandfather told me. He talked about the fact that until 1936 his small town had no electricity so they had an ice box to keep their food cool. In order to keep their ice box stocked with ice, they also had an ice shed with big front doors filled with sawdust for insulation. When the shed needed to be refilled with ice, my grandfather and some of his colleagues would go out to the local reservoir during the winter and saw out ice squares. The men then transported the ice back to the ice shed and packed it in tightly alternating ice and sawdust, layer upon layer. My grandfather said that when they needed ice for the ice box he would go to the shed and cut and chip the ice block until it was the perfect size to fit into the ice box.

Thinking about the amount of effort my grandfather went through to keep food cold in his ice box, it occurred to me that not only has refrigeration changed, so has education. Our students in Columbia Schools have opportunities that children in the past could have never dreamed about. Education now includes learning activities on computers and new ways of attacking math problems. Early elementary children are learning how to play a guitar in music class and high school students participate in project based learning to solve engineering problems.

One of the things that has changed in education is that our institutions are valued based upon test scores. Recently, we received test scores for our high school students who took the PLAN test. Our students scored very well and earned some of the top scores in the state and were well above the national average. Our teachers work diligently to decipher test scores and to compare the elements on tests to their curriculum. Just this week our District School Improvement Team met and discussed the importance of using data and feedback from our test results to help improve the learning activities we offer to our students.

 So the next time you reach into your refrigerator to get an ice cube or a cold glass of milk, think about not only how much our refrigeration systems have changed, but how much education has changed and how much more our children are learning each day under the guidance of our wonderful teaching staff!

If you are interested in learning more about Columbia Schools, please email me at Pamela.campbell@myeagles.org or call me at 5175926641.