 Seventh grade teachers at Pequot Lakes have been embracing the new REACH program for this week's Golden Apple. Sarah Winkleman takes us to Pequot Lakes Middle School to hear about the changes in the classroom. Take on your assignment. The REACH program is all about strengthening student motivation through relationships, effort, aspirations, cognition, and heart. It's a lot more than MCA scores, GPA, ACT scores. At the middle level we have a great turning point in a kid's development where we can also focus on some really important skills like character. The REACH curriculum transforms regular coursework and assignments into a more personal experience for the students. It sparks with something that gets you going. It's something that you get really excited about. So for example in math if I find out that someone really loves hunting I can incorporate that into my math lesson and they get excited about the math lesson then because there's spark is incorporated in there. A survey at the beginning of the year gave the seventh grade students the opportunity to share their interests. So the teachers have been talking more about like what we like to do and we do a lot of discussing about it. Like talking about what we wrote down and other kids too so it's kind of cool to see what the other kids like to do and stuff which we usually don't get to see. It's a positive change that the students are noticing in the classroom. How do you feel a little bit better about yourself and you can talk to other people about like what you like and stuff like that? The students also participate weekly in some other activities that get them thinking about gratitude. We're not just throwing activities to the wind. We are honing them in based on what the students are telling us they need. Often we're stressed on the curriculum, get through the curriculum, practice for the MCAs whereas school shouldn't just be about get through the curriculum. It should be make the kids who they should be for the rest of their lives, make them good citizens and this REACH program really helps us focus on the good qualities of a person and who you should be as a person. During this crucial period in the students' lives that will help them move on in education and eventually the workforce. Reporting in Pequot Lakes, Sarah Winkleman, Lakeland News. Thank you for watching.