On Wednesday, May 17, La Salle held its Academic Showcase. After school concluded with an early dismissal, staff prepared their classes and halls for the evening, showcasing students’ work. Welcoming students along with their families, the evening served as a good opportunity for teachers to get to know their students better.

With many parents only briefly interacting with teachers during parent-teacher conferences or back-to-school night, the evening offered families a glimpse into different courses. “When you’re a parent of a high school student, you don’t necessarily know what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis,” religious studies teacher Ms. Jane Nitschke said. “To be able to come into a classroom and see something that they were working on that you remember them talking about, but you never really saw the final product, as a parent, that’s an amazing gift to be able to have that opportunity.”

As one of the few opportunities that teachers have to meet students and their families, the showcase is unique in its more informal setting. “A lot of the parents I briefly met at back-to-school night or in parent-teacher conferences,” Ms. Nitschke said. “It’s reintroducing, and it’s kind of fun to see the parents of the kids I teach and see who they look like and listen to them talk about how wonderful their kids are and to watch the interaction of the students with their parents.”

Students were also able to pick up awards they received for their work in different courses and commendations from specific departments.