By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

New Heights Charter Academy students Nicole Gibeault, Ashlynne dePinquertaine, Jess Yianakopolos, Kristen Woods and Ariana Pease examine a map of Goffstown during a recent lesson at the school. (The Goffstown News/Rod Hansen)

In a little more than two weeks, a group of Charter Academy students have put Goffstown on the map.

While the town has been well-charted before, these 11 students at New Heights Charter Academy created an interactive map that may serve students for generations to come.

“I’ve never experienced anything like what these students have done, in my 25 years of teaching,” said Lise Mailloux-Dyer, a project coach at New Heights Charter Academy.

New Heights is an academy located within Goffstown High School. This summer’s session of New Heights consisted of a two-and-a-half-week course, with approximately 100 hours of work. The project met the standards of a half credit of social studies and a half credit of public service.

This year’s summer session, the charter academy’s first, convened at Goffstown High School on July 5. As an objective for the summer session, they were to create a user-friendly database as a resource for volunteering, internships, service-learning and employment opportunities for students and area organizations.

School officials agreed the students more than met this summer’s goal. In a presentation to about 30 parents and school officials on Friday, July 21, academy students unveiled a Google Earth Web site that lists dozens of local businesses, their addresses, their contact information and other information that would help a student find volunteer and employment opportunities.

Plus, through the Google Earth program, visitors to the Web site can see an aerial photograph of the business and then “fly in” for a closer view, all through the comfort a personal computer.

Students received a free one-year subscription to the Google Earth program as part of the project, valued at $400, simply by calling Google and telling them about thier work.

“The idea of using Google Earth took off from using Google Maps,” said Alex Miller, a student who helped load information onto the Web site and coordinate the efforts. “We told (Google) what we were doing and wound up with a free year’s subscription.”

Not all of New Heights students’ achievements came so easily. To gather information for their Web site and database, the students also toured the community from business-to-business and collected data.

Some business owners were receptive, while others had a hard time taking them seriously, some of the students said.

Once the data was collected, student Ryan Sweatt said he spent about 60 hours loading it into the computer.

The students’ activities did not stop with the creation of the Web site. Students also visited the Goffstown Historical Society, met with several community leaders and assembled a PowerPoint presentation on the past, present and future of Goffstown.

Students Kristen Woods, Jess Yianakopolos and Felicia Sell gave the PowerPoint presentation, which featured several old and recent photos of the community. A series of “What if …?” questions considered how the town might benefit from recreational activities such as biking, hiking, rafting and snowshoe trails.

Students also produced a video that documented their canvassing of the town, stopping for lunch at a popular sandwich shop and hiking Mount Uncanoonuc with economic development subcommittee member Ray Taber.

Other events captured in the video include students visiting the historical society, touring local flower shops, the library and chatting with members of the community.

John Webb, a project coach with New Heights Charter Academy and a guidance counselor at the high school, said he hopes to make the students’ Google Earth Web site remains a community resource in the future.

“My hope is this link will be open to anyone who wants to access it,” Webb said.

Along with assembling information that will be valuable to the community as a whole, Webb said students also learned skills at New Heights that will help them individually.

“I was really impressed with the students,” Webb said. “They were really good with people skills and really went above and beyond what was expected of them.”

Darlene Yianakopolos, whose daughter Jess participated in New Heights over the summer, also praised the academic benefits of the program.

“I think it puts a whole new twist on learning,” Yianakopolos said. “They’re taking what they learn at school and applying it outside of the classroom. (Jess) has become a far more confident public speaker, and I think New Heights has been a great experience for her.”

As a student, Miller said he also found the New Heights experience to be valuable.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had learning,” Miller said. “This was not just sitting down in the classroom, this was going out into the community.”