BELFAST, Maine — Over the last few months, freshmen students who are enrolled in the Explore Career in Technical Education (CTE) course at Waldo County Technical Center worked together to build an escape room, using hands-on learning to demonstrate skills they have mastered in the classroom.
The escape room opened to the public from Jan. 9 to 11, and the activity will be available for people who want to test it out one last time on Wednesday, Jan. 17.
Explore CTE classroom instructor Chris Kein said by constructing the escape room, students get the opportunity to apply math, computer, and web design skills that they learn in the classroom to real-life situations.
Kein said he incorporates state-standard math and art requirements into his classroom curriculum.
When students complete his class at the end of the semester, they receive a 10-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certification, half credits for math and art, and an elective credit.
"As freshmen, they're getting introduced to this. I have students that already know that they want to be electricians—diesel mechanics," Kein said.
Students like Keira Saball said the unconventional approach to learning that the technical school offers allows her to be more interested in learning.
"This class actually made me want to come to school," Saball said. "It's not like traditional schooling where you have to sit in a room and listen to people talk, and that's good for some people but it's not good for everyone."
Saball said she appreciates how various teaching styles are used to make learning more interactive. She said although she has always struggled with math, she feels that the way math is incorporated into class activities, much like building the escape room, helps the numbers make sense.
"People learn at different paces and in different ways," Saball said. "For me, I'm learning when someone says, 'Hey, this is what we're doing,' and then shows me what we're doing, and then gives me my chance to do it."
Electrical student Logen Buldoc said he was one of the first people to give the escape room a test run.
Buldoc and other electrical students checked all the wiring when construction started, making him think he had an upper hand at solving the maze faster.
Buldoc said he was surprised when he went through the full escape room, explaining that it was much harder than he thought it would be.
"I was like, 'Oh, this is going to be a breeze—I know what it looks like. I'll crack this in no time.' The other two kids that I did it with were the same way," Buldoc said. "We all got in there and went, 'Oh man.'"
Buldoc said he is proud of the work his classmates invested into making the escape room fun and difficult to crack.
Like Saball, students who take the Explore CTE course and who attend the technical school all throughout are finding that having fun while learning helps them leave class with much more confidence than what they started with.
"This has showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to," Saball said. "Like, if I really want to, I can go out and be an engineer. I can do that sort of stuff."
The escape room will be available Wednesday, Jan. 17 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 1022 Waterville Rd.