Published: September 23, 2008 05:31 pm      

Local man partners with Purdue, helps children stay in school

Craig MacFarlane pretty much accomplishes anything he puts his mind to, and he wants youth in America to set their standards just as high. MacFarlane, a Zionsville resident and inspirational speaker, has partnered with Purdue University to launch an interactive Web site, www.sticktoschool.com, to encourage youth to graduate from high school.

MacFarlane was blinded at the age of 2 and went on to become a world-class athlete, study law at Carlton University and receive a stock broker’s license through Edward Jones Investments. He travels throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Europe giving inspirational speeches.

Ronald Glotzbach, an assistant professor of computer graphics technology, several of his students, and MacFarlane developed the site geared toward high school students who may be debating whether or not to earn their diplomas or pursue a college degree.

“Kids are very visual today and they don’t want to read a bunch of stuff … especially kids who are about to drop out of high school.” MacFarlane said when talking about why he thought a Web site was the right medium to reach kids who want to quit school.

The Web site focuses on the six basic types of jobs most people choose, based on personality type: realistic (working with animals, tools or machines); investigative (scientific, or math-based jobs); artistic (dancer, actor, musician); social (teachers or counselors); enterprising (sales, real estate agent, lawyer); or conventional (mail carrier, bookkeeper, secretary, bank teller). The site also provides salary information and necessary education for specific careers.

With more and more teens plugged into video games these days, the team also developed two interactive games for the site: “Welcome to Opus City” and “Stick to School: The Game.” Opus City allows players to travel around the fictional city full of challenges and job choices. The goal is to keep the character called The Benefactor happy by making wise decisions. Stick to School is designed like a board game, where players first decide whether to say in school or drop out, and then take turns moving their car around the board, encountering various real-life scenarios based on their choice. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins.

“Not having a high school diploma can put you at a severe disadvantage in terms of finding a good job or finding a career,” Glotzbach said in a press release. “Our goal with this Web site is to create something that students will enjoy using and, at the same time, give them good, valuable information that will inspire them.”

Other features of the Web site include an e-mentor section, in which students can ask questions about education or careers that will be answered by professionals at 20/20 Inner Vision, the not-for-profit founded by MacFarlane with the mission to “increase high school graduation rates and create positive employment futures by instilling a sense of pride and dignity in the youth of America,” according to its Web site.

With 4,000 U.S. students dropping out of school daily, according to Inner Vision’s Web site, improving those statistics may seem like a daunting task. But MacFarlane is up to the challenge.

“Are we gonna catch everybody? Absolutely not. Will we catch some? I am convinced.”