By Morgan Chamberlain, Staff Writer

Students at Conant High School are using an Extended Learning Opportunity(ELO) to earn credits based on their interests.

Using ELOs students can learn outside of a typical classroom setting and study a topic they are interested in.

Dayna Jackson, a teacher at Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School, as well as the ELO coordinator for Conant High School said, “An ELO allows students to create their own research project that covers learning progressions, and allows students to get credits in researching something that they are interested in.”

Not only do students work with Mrs. Jackson, but they also work with other resources inside and outside of the school.

“Beside the student, the ELO coordinator, which is me. There’s usually a community mentor, if you’re working out somewhere in the community doing job shadowing, and there is a teacher mentor who will guide you while you’re in school and meet with you. School counselors and administration have a piece of it, they support you when it comes to earning credits,” Jackson said.

The opportunity to earn a credit for something a student is interested in has been taken on by approximately 15 students this year.

Remy Raitto, a senior at Conant High School, said, “Last year, my junior year, I did one on construction because that’s what I was currently doing for work.”

Raitto took this opportunity and earned a full credit for something he enjoyed doing.

“For the ELO there was this requirement sheet and you had to have like a certain amount of hours of work, and that’s the reason why I got a full credit because I had that many hours of work,” he continued, “I just basically saw an opportunity to to get a credit for something that I like doing,” Raitto said.

A different approach for Raitto helped him learn even more and gain experience he wants.

Raitto said, “You get to go out and do what you want to do and experience things that you want to do once you get out of high school.”

For some students, they have never heard of an ELO.

Shayna Tabor, a senior at Conant High School, said, “It’s not encouraged. Since I haven’t heard about it maybe teachers don’t like it so they are not encouraging students to do it.”

Working with resources outside of the classroom students are able to gain real life experience.