Our Wildwood, Summer 2019, Volume 45

GIVING VOICE A conversation between community members

Josie B. ’19 and Joe Wise, WISRD COO

Josie B. ’19 is off to Brown University in the fall. She has been in WISRD (Wildwood Institute for STEM Research and Development) for four years, three as senior editor of The Inquirer, WISRD’s popular science magazine, and two as director of the Institute. Josie credits much of her growth as a learner and a person to her time in WISRD. A big part of that, she says, is her collaboration with Joe Wise, WISRD’s chief operating officer. Here, Josie and Joe reflect on Wildwood’s innovative Institute Model and how WISRD prepares students for the “real world.”

OWW: How are WISRD and Wildwood’s Institute Model different from a traditional classroom, both from a teaching and a student perspective? JOE: The biggest difference for me is the self-directed, contextual nature of it and the continuity of it. The students in the Institute are so much a part of the context. New members are learning from watching Josie and her peers’ work habits. They are coming in with expectations that have developed over the five years— [WISRD started in 2014]—based on the work of prior members. The bar keeps rising. JOSIE: There’s no other class I’ve been involved with where students can find something that they’re passionate about as a freshman and still be able to work on it as their interests evolve through senior year. They know that once they leave, the work will continue with the next generation of WISRD members.

OWW: There’s a “legacy” factor to the Institutes. Work is built upon year after year.

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