(Original article from bellevuereorter.com)

Wearing new backpacks and sneakers, 125 ninth and sixth graders breathed new life into the old Robinswood building on the first day of school Tuesday.

While scores of other students in the district returned to their buildings for another year, these middle and high schoolers ate a celebratory cake and attended a ceremony for the inaugural day of the Bellevue Big Picture School.

“I thank my peers for stepping into something totally unknown with me,” said ninth grader Hunter Sidel in a speech at the school’s opening ceremonies Tuesday morning.

Student speakers, staff, Superintendent Amalia Cudeiro and representatives from the international Big Picture School network spoke at the event in front of students and their families.

As principal Bethany Spinler put it, the selection of choosing the model for the school was based off of surveying more than 200 families.

“Real-world experiences for kids and smaller schools” were the most common requests, Spinler said.

The excitement and desire for Big Picture was evident at the opening ceremonies when Spinler asked all who helped form the school to stand up. Only a few remained in their seats.

Other innovative school models, such as the New Tech Network and High Tech High, were considered before choosing Big Picture, a model with more than 100 schools in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Israel and the Netherlands.

With a 92 percent graduation rate and a reputation for engaging children from affluent, as well as low-income communities, Big Picture just fit the bill.

The word “alternative” is a loaded word, Spinler said. Certainly, Big Picture is an alternative to the traditional school model, but it’s also the right fit for many students who want to do more, be more innovative and creative than a traditional school would allow; like being able to develop a Big Picture soda company, as students in Rhode Island have done.

Each Big Picture school is based on three foundational principles: first, that learning must be based on the interests and goals of each student; second, that a student’s curriculum must be relevant to people and places that exist in the real world; and finally, that a student’s abilities must be authentically measured by the quality of her or his work.

In his speech, Sidel said he was looking forward to exploring the subjects that interest him, including law, history and psychology.

Sidel and the other 50 ninth graders will all have the opportunity to pursue internships of their choosing later in the year.

From learning about law enforcement through helping officers in sting operations, to designing bicycles for a local shop, the sky is the limit for students internships – as long as its legal and age appropriate, Spinler said.

Student internships will be supervised by teachers, who are called advisers in Big Picture schools

“We don’t know all the answers,” said adviser Ian Stevenson during a speech at the opening ceremonies directed to students. “But we can advise you to help you discover those answers for yourself.”