Keelin Brubaker

Brubaker’s winning program, “Wheel of Explorations,” was started to restore motivation and engagement to the most disenfranchised students in the school. The school has a diverse and impoverished student population. Many do not know how to set goals for their future, and in many cases, their parents are uneducated and unable to help them. Additionally, many students are no longer deemed eligible for electives because of their low test scores. They have few creative, physical or interactive outlets during the school day. There are few positive role models and little access to the greater Portland community. By creating a rotating wheel of electives, Brubaker is pulling required curriculum and needed skills out of the core classes and teaching them in a hands-on, relevant way by incorporating community organizations and business role models. Brubaker, who lives in Portland, hopes the program will restore motivation and engagement by presenting essential skills in a relevant way that gives students a sense of purpose. For the first time, they will see and understand how skills learned in class translate directly to the real world.