JPS-TV and the Jeffco Schools Foundation are partnering to present this special series, honoring Jeffco Public Schools students and teachers of extraordinary character, leadership, and strength.
JPS-TV and the Jeffco Schools Foundation are partnering to present this special series, honoring Jeffco Public Schools students and teachers of extraordinary character, leadership, and strength.
Bryan Halsey likes to stay busy. In his dozen years as an educator, most of them at Columbine High School, he’s taught business and marketing, advised DECA students, and coached linebackers. This productive Jeffco Hero has one more thing on his resume, of which he’s perhaps most proud – he’s the creator of The Big Idea Project. This nonprofit, which was born in a leadership class Halsey taught, has the ambitious goal of motivating students to think outside of themselves and to do what they can to create a better world.
“So, the students have the ownership, they take the ownership of ‘what is it that I want to make a difference in and who do I want to impact?’ We narrow it down and you want to, you know, end starvation around the world, well, you’ve got two months, so what is it that you can actually get accomplished and what are you going to actually, tangibly do?,” explained Halsey.
The process of creating these big ideas takes students out of the classroom and into the community.
“One of the things Bryan does a lot is create a window of opportunity to think deeply about having that impact that goes beyond just the learning environment in the classroom,” said Columbine High School Principal K.C. Sommers.
The ideas and the actions to carry them out come from Columbine students. A resource fair for families of students with disabilities was one such project, and a safe haven for homeless immigrant families was another.
“They could feel that they were safe and they didn’t have to go to the streets and just basically be homeless,” explained Columbine senior Isabella Acosta. “Honestly, it made me look at it completely different. It opened my eyes to a new world.”
Visiting young patients with life-threatening illnesses was yet another project.
“What we did essentially was go to the hospital in Aurora and we interacted with the kids, trying to give them a positive distraction from the illnesses,” explained Columbine senior Gabriel Graves. “We did crafts and made stuffed animals with them and it was a super cool experience. I got to meet a lot of awesome kids with it, too.”
Halsey particularly enjoys seeing the passion for a particular cause develop or grow among his students, as they work on their big ideas.
“It’s always great to see what passions come up with the students and typically it stems from maybe a past experience or people that they know that are dealing with his,” said Halsey.
His favorite part of the Big Idea Project, however, is seeing the impact his students have on the lives of community members.
“Probably the best moments are the ones when you see individuals that have been touched by our kids coming to an event, a night where they do their presentation and to hear their stories and to tears of joy and then for our students to reflect on that and to capture that experience in a way that shares that with our community – it’s transformational,” said Halsey.
The Big Idea Project is growing and expanding beyond the walls of Columbine High School. Some500 students across the metro area now take part and Halsey is hoping to make it a national force for good.
“The key component of The Big Idea Project is teaching them what’s called generous leadership – the idea that they can lead through the lens of empathy and realizing they can impact others as they’re leading and moving forward as they lead organizations, lead big companies, lead their families, that they can instill that thought of generous leadership throughout,” said Halsey.
Halsey may teach his students generous leadership, but he also leads by example, which has already left a lasting impact.
“I think you symbolize what it means to be a true hero on behalf of every student, staff member at Columbine High School, as well as our community beyond, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said Sommers.
Watch the JPS-TV version of this story here.