Ypsilanti New Tech High School's unconventional approach resonating with teachers, students

Ypsilanti New Tech High School at Ardis isn't your typical school.

Three subjects — Geoart, Historytech and Biolit — are taught in wide open classrooms with six teachers and 100-plus students, using a still developing way of teaching and learning.

The school relies on project-based learning to assist students, not exactly the normal one-way teaching used in traditional schools.

“We’re not telling them what they need to do,” said Director Cory McElmeel. “We want them to discover what they have to do.”

New Tech High School opened at the start of the school year in the former Ardis Elementary School, which had been closed for five years. The high school follows a national model of project-based learning with an emphasis on technology.