One student in the ambassador program at North High School was born in Akron and has lived in the same house his whole life. Another is a refugee from Nepal who has lived in at least 12 houses since his arrival here in 2012.
These are the faces of the Akron school district’s changing college and careers curriculum who will benefit from learning skills that will help them as they move through their education and their lives. Some will be the first in their families to attend college.
All are grateful and excited for the opportunity to learn and then share that knowledge with others.
Among their duties is giving tours to partners interested in helping sponsor the academies model that soon will be in all of the Akron district’s high schools. The district is seeking business and community partners to supply monetary donations and in-kind efforts such as mentoring and shadowing and internship opportunities. Organizations such as Akron Children’s Hospital and the GAR Foundation have already given grants.
“We’re just very enthusiastic and just very confident in the evolution that’s happening here,” said Dina Younis, GAR’s communications manager. “We think the college and career academies are just an excellent model for deep comprehensive learning and for the strategic development of our workforce. We kind of owe it to these students to prepare them and give them the tools for a better track, whether it’s education or workforce.”
North will be the first Akron high school to go to the academies model in the fall. Students began the Freshman Academy this school year to help them get acclimated to high school and put them on a path to a career. They discover what types of learners they are, explore careers and visit colleges.
In the fall, they will begin classes in their chosen pathway, either in the Academy of Health and Human Services, which consists of allied health, biomedical science, early childhood education and health care operations courses; or the Academy of Global Technology and Business, which consists of entrepreneurship and marketing, HVAC — heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology — information support and services, and programming and software development courses. They won’t emerge from high school as doctors, lawyers and teachers, but will have acquired the skills to help them work on achieving those goals.
“Being a critical thinker, being able to communicate effectively, those are those soft skills we’re looking to build no matter what career pathway they choose,” North Principal Rachel Tecca said.
Student ambassadors
Akron’s other high schools will follow North’s lead in the 2018-2019 school year with the launch of Freshman Academies. In 2019-2020, all the high schools will have career academies for grades 10-12.
Ambassadors give tours to students and parents interested in attending North. They also help students who don’t speak English as their first language, a large portion of North’s population.
To be chosen as an ambassador, students must have a 3.25 GPA. There is an application and interview process. Students must reapply every year.
Amit Baniya, 18, a senior, is on his way to becoming a teacher. His junior year he began an early education program.
“It gives a lot of experience in how to become a successful teacher,” he said. “It also helps you get ready to pursue your career into the next level.” Next year, he’ll study education at the University of Akron. Originally from Nepal, he has been in the United States for four years, starting at North in ninth grade.
“I knew this program would help me throughout my career,” he said, “how to talk to the people, how to interact with them.”
Junior Chandra Gajmer, 17, started in an English as a Second Language program when he arrived to this country five years ago. He also is from Nepal, and a teacher recommended he apply for the student ambassador program to help with his English.
“I started to talk better, and I gained those skills so I could talk in front of people,” he said. “I was one of the guys who talked a lot in our school,” he said, laughing.
“Chandra is absolutely the best networker,” Tecca said. “He has probably acquired more business cards than me, from people who want to stay in touch with him and his future.”
He is taking biomed classes and wants to be a physical therapist.
“This academy system is going to help me learn more about my career,” the soccer player said. Through his pathway in the Health and Human Services Academy, he will have the chance to shadow at partner Akron Children’s Hospital. He also has been accepted to an internship this summer with Summa Health.
Lucas Miller, 17, a junior, is an Akron native who has lived in the same house his whole life. He is in the interactive media program at Firestone High School and must take a bus there daily. Under the academies model, students who wish to study such a career will already be in the school at which the courses are offered. His core classes are taken at North. His Firestone classes are dual enrollment, meaning he gets college credit for them. Coupled with the College Credit Plus program at North that he takes online through Stark State, he will graduate with at least 15 college credits.
Next year as a senior, he will continue with his program, then hopes to major in computer science in college.
In contrast, Chandra has lived in about 12 houses since his arrival in Akron.
“It’s horrible,” he said. “We keep paying rent, switch house ... sometimes the landlord is mean ... it’s just the refugee life.”
A focus, with flexibility
Freshmen Angela Morales-Perez, 16; Surakchhya Subba, 15; and Soma Ya, 15, are just beginning their paths.
Angela was born in Atlanta to parents who are from Guatemala. In 2011, she moved to Guatemala with her mother, coming to Akron two years ago. She plays softball and runs track and cross country at North.
She was debating between biomed and marketing because she’s not sure whether she wants to be a doctor or lawyer.
“The idea is we don’t want kids to think about what careers that they want to be in as the deciding factor,” Tecca said. “It’s what are the skills and competencies they are going to gain from being in that pathway. ... So for Angela, she really can’t go wrong in the marketing or the biomed, but the biomed’s going to have much more science, which will prepare her for anything in the medical field. Marketing is going to prepare her for anything more diverse, creative, so she’ll be able to take those skills and use them for anything down the road.”
Students on recent college tours were amazed, Tecca said. Many didn’t realize a campus is more than one building.
“This is like a town, not a college,” Soma said she thought. “I did not know that. But once she visited, she could see herself attending school there.
Surakchhya, who originally is from Nepal, is excited to tell middle school students about all of the good things going on at North.
“We know how it feels, so we can help them out,” said Soma, who wants to be a nurse. “If you come to school, you come to learn,” Angela said. “I want to graduate and go to college and follow my career and be the first generation who does that. I have the opportunity to follow what I want.”
Tecca said the academies model is trying to reach students who don’t see a purpose in school, who don’t see a path.
“If we can get them interested in a career field that will be giving them a purpose for learning, that may help get them back on track,” she said. “It starts to make school become a little more meaningful.”
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.