California Area School District is 3D printing its way into an elementary orchestra program.
The Washington County school district, where a third of residents live below the poverty line, is not able to provide students with costly string instruments, nor are many of its families in a position to rent or buy them.
That meant innovating, and Superintendent Laura Jacob put the district’s 3D printers to use to supply instruments for elementary school students.
“A lot of kids don’t get into playing music because of the cost of lessons and then the cost of renting the instrument,” said Jacob, who became California’s superintendent during the covid-19 pandemic. “The covid disruption gave us the liberty to think outside the box.”
California Area is part of the Western Pennsylvania Learning 2025 Alliance, a regional cohort of school districts working together with support from The Grable Foundation and the national School Superintendents Association. The alliance convenes to help districts like California Area give every child the best possible learning experience while collaborating to create student-centered, equity-focused, future-driven schools.
Part of that process included the formation of after-school clubs focused on student interest, including one that meets Fridays to play the 3D-printed violins.
The alliance is made up of more than 40 school districts across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
One of those is Franklin Regional, where grants and alliance funding have been used across the board, from administrators to students.
“We use a lot of the alliance resources to support our professional development and learning, and everything from supporting our principals to central office administrators,” Superintendent Gennaro Piraino said. “But I think the most powerful thing that comes out of it is the collaboration that takes place — sharing ideas and successful strategies with other districts — not just based around best practices but around being forward-thinking as an organization.”
The alliance is co-led by Pittsburgh-area superintendents who are part of the School Superintendents Association, which designated FR as a “LighthouseSystem” in 2023, holding it up as an example of how engaged learning, networking and collaboration can drive education policy and improve the ways students learn.
“It shifts the focus from something like state testing scores and allows us to work with students on the dispositions they need to enter the real world,” Piraino said. “We can create more engaging learning experiences for students.”
Fostering cooperation
Fox Chapel Area School District is also part of the alliance, and Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac said it has helped foster more cooperation between teachers and students.
“I’ve actually heard this from students at nearly every level,” Reljac said. “They’ve said, ‘When we have an idea, our teachers listen to us. They help us to develop the idea and make it happen.’ And that agency they have in designing their spaces, designing their learning, designing their social interactions and taking leadership in collaboration with educators is what really makes a difference.”
The Deer Lakes School District used alliance grant funding to pull together a team of administrators, education leaders, department chair, community members and students in 2022 to develop what they called a “Portrait of a Graduate.”
“Students are a walking advertisement of the work that we do,” says Jodi VanderSchaff, principal at Deer Lakes’ East Union Intermediate School. “You think you know what you’re teaching and what they’re walking away with. But to hear the experiences that meant the most to them — what they remember significantly — that really allowed us to reflect and build from there.”
Today, Deer Lakes teachers do “learning walks” through the district’s buildings, seeking evidence of the portrait attributes in action. And they’re seeing them: Elementary teachers discover high schoolers showing powerful uses of creativity. Middle school teachers visit primary rooms and see collaboration and communication.
Deer Lakes High School Principal Ryan Aleski said he sees high schoolers putting the portrait attributes into action every day.
“Of course, high schoolers are high schoolers. They’re not walking around saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’m collaborating!’ ” he said. “They want to get their projects done and get their grades. But we reflect with them and take that time to say, ‘This is what you did today. This is how you’re becoming a more well-rounded person.’ ”
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Some of the alliance’s other efforts the past few years have included:
• Both Franklin Regional and Shaler Area School District have partnered with alliance stakeholders, teachers, counselors, families and community members to update instructional spaces. Franklin Regional has used alliance funding to purchase flexible furniture that can be reconfigured easily to support collaborative student learning.
• Allegheny Valley School District has opted to focus on student wellness by introducing social-emotional learning lessons and creating a district wellness center.
• Greater Latrobe School District used alliance funding to create a student-run business that produces and sells personalized products.
In California Area School District, the 3D-printed instruments have students and staff thinking about possibilities.
“How a 3D-printed violin sounds, how it responds, is a bit different from the wooden version,” said music teacher and band director Noah Kilgus. “But it’s very accessible, which is what music-making should be about.”
California freshman Alison Piktel, who had some experience with traditional violins, has her own customized pink-and-black model.
“It doesn’t sound exactly like an actual violin, but it’s pretty close,” Piktel said. “It’s actually helped me grow as a violinist.”
Jacob said the success of the 3D-printed violins has her considering a summer camp where students can learn to make their wooden counterparts.
“I’m just trying to show our students a wide breadth of skills that can open up their worlds to different careers and possibilities,” she said.