Gibson Ek High School students planned and hosted their first showcase event on Jan. 13 at the new high school to show the community what the Innovative High School is all about.

Students and staff of the school welcomed friends, family, community members and future students to Gibson Ek for an evening of getting to know the students, self-guided tours of the campus and innovation spaces, club booths and project presentations, combined with a food truck and the school’s first music performance.

Tina Proctor, a teacher at a more “traditional” school, was one of the hundreds of people who turned out. She said her reason for coming out to the school was to “see how projects worked and what the school was about.”

After touring the spaces, Proctor said that the work being done is impressive and that the students are “gaining important skills that will help them be successful” in their lives.

Principal Julia Bamba was extremely happy with how the night turned out. She said that it was “full of positive energy and amazing support from friends and family. Tonight gave a sense of who we are as a school.”

Positive energy filled the busy campus that night, something that Proctor noted, with students and staff running back and forth and engaging with the interested attendees.

For Bamba, the highlight of the night was the students “sharing their learning with others and being confident and excited about their work.”

Students attending the only high school in the district to take the new approach on interest-based project work and internship learning said that they were happy to show off the hard work being done and have their weeks of preparation pay off at the successful night.

Jaime Cao is a Gibson Ek High School student and an intern with the Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter.