Monday's Internet Edition, May 12, 2008.
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Features Editor
- “What a shame to work at a job for 40 years and not like it.”
That was East Davidson High School tenth-grader Airam Postek’s point of view — one she spoke candidly during Wednesday’s meeting of the Thomasville Rotary Club.
Postek and ninth-graders Jessica McAdams and Drew Strickland were three students selected to speak before Thomasville Rotarians about an innovative approach to education.
Davidson County Schools (DCS) was one of only a handful of school systems across the nation to be granted permission to start certain specialized academies at various schools.
At East Davidson High School, there are 66 students enrolled in the Academy of Finance.
Academies aren’t separate institutions of learning — they’re a set of courses very specifically designed and tailored to a certain curriculum.
For example, Academy of Finance students take courses such as Introduction to Financial Services; Computerized Accounting I and II; Financial Planning: Banking and Credit; International Planning; and Business and Finance Advanced Studies.
They’re also encouraged to hold an internship in that field during their junior or senior year in high school.
And since Charlotte boasts America’s second-largest financial district — second to New York City — the Academy of Finance works out perfectly.
“It’s growing rapidly,” Academy of Finance director and teacher Kim Cline told Rotarians. “There’s a lot of interest, and the kids can relate the math they learn to the finance we’re showing them. It makes sense to them.”
DCS director of career and technology education Marty Tobey said each one of DCS’s Academies was need-based.
“We don’t set up an academy unless there is a solid job market for those skills,” he said. “Last year, we began to research this, and discovered that the North Carolina finance industry has seen steady growth since 1990 — and we want these kids to have the opportunity to be prepared for work in that industry.”
Other Academies offered include the Academy of Pre-Engineering at North Davidson High School; the Academy of Medical Science, which is offered at all county high schools; and the Oracle Academy, offered at DCS’ Technology Center.
“Sometimes you have to fail at things in order to understand how the real world works,” McAdams said during her remarks. “The Academy teaches us that we can fail and get right back up and go on.
“If we choose the wrong career, that can be thousands of hours wasted doing something we hate, and that’s not right. With this Academy, we’re allowed to get some hands-on experience and really get a feel for something before we go off to college.”
McAdams said every day this school year, she has been excited to step into Cline’s class.
“She has opened my eyes, and I am very thankful to have learned so much,” she said.
“You get a chance to learn real things you’ll use,” Postek said. “You’re not sitting in class bored because you’re forced to learn something you’ll never use. You’re interested because you know you’re getting useful information.
“A lot of classes lack hands-on experience, and I think that just has to be fixed.”
Postek said the most important thing she’d learned thus far this year was time management skills.
“This Academy woke me up and made me start questioning what I was going to do with my future and my motives for doing it,” Strickland said. “It has been a very eye opening class.”
For more information, or to offer an internship position, call Davidson County Schools at 249-8181.
(Dec. 8)