Career academies grab more students' interest
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 27, 2007 1:46 PM
Three career academies introduced at area high schools in the fall are gaining popularity, officials said.
Wayne County Public Schools launched the school-within-a-school concept with a focus on business/finance and business. In addition to course offerings, students will also be given the opportunity to attend affiliated activities and take classes at Wayne Community College.
Charles B. Aycock and Eastern Wayne high schools' the "Business and Finance Academy" requires freshmen and sophomores to complete business courses. Their junior and senior years, students will have the opportunity to take business, finance and marketing classes at Wayne Community.
Aycock also houses the Academy of Engineering Technologies.
This is a building year for the academy at Eastern Wayne, said Kim Smith, a business teacher there.
"We started our academy with 15 sophomores," she said. "Next year, we will begin accepting freshmen, and students who participated this year will begin taking required classes at Wayne Community College."
The academies offer students enrichment opportunities through integrated learning, personalized instruction, on-the-job work experience, as well as field trips and learning activities that will help prepare students for a career in business and finance, Mrs. Smith said.
"We hope to eventually take our students on a business field trip to New York City to tour Wall Street and other business-focused organizations," she said.
Students in the program recently attended a business fair at Wayne Community. During the visit, they learned about some of the school's curriculum, participated in a teambuilding session and learned more about such fields as business, marketing, retailing, economics, accounting, law and management.
Aycock students in the engineering academy will also visit WCC today for the "SumoBot Robot Competition." There, they will have the opportunity to build robots that will compete against one another.