Dozens and dozens of community members gathered at Bourne High School’s Innovation Studio on Tuesday night, November 29, for the Innovations Pathway Open House, eager to see the school’s brand-new ambulance simulator and iMac Lab Business Suite following the official ribbon cutting.
The ethos at BHS as of late has been to take the idea of a traditional community high school and help it evolve, and the excitement around the idea was palpable at the event. The studio’s hallways were packed with curious parents, students and little siblings, all exploring the new facilities while chatting with staff and each other. The aquaponics lab was open, too, giving families a peek into the real, hands-on life science learning going on in their student’s classroom. Meanwhile, the senior intern presentation room was bustling, filled with the chatter of students excitedly discussing their new internships with those perusing the tables.
The evening began with remarks from Superintendent Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou, introducing the new Innovations Pathways Program that prepares high school students for both college and career life. The ceremony marked the community’s formal introduction to the first two pathways being offered at BHS: Business and Finance and Life and Environmental Sciences.
“Bourne Public Schools is reimagining education to ensure that all of our students have access to relevant and hands-on learning experiences,” Dr. Zhou said.
The pathways, she explained, are aligned with the Cape and islands’ demand for careers, and the district works with the Cape and Islands Workforce Board and Mass Hire to identify career fields in high demand. A third pathway, Health Sciences, is already in the works, with Dr. Zhou announcing that the district just got word that the first part of the intensive application and interview process with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is completed. BHS Principal Amy K. Cetner said she expects the pathway will be introduced in the fall, and the school-to-career readiness team is already looking ahead to future pathway designations.
School to Career/Innovations Pathways Coordinator Ann-Marie C. Strode is largely responsible for making the program happen, along with her team of Ms. Cetner, BHS guidance counselor Kim Iannucci, grades 6-12 curriculum director Jessee Clements and Assistant Superintendent Barbara Starkie.
“It’s really student-driven,” Ms. Cetner said of the program after the ceremony, “and really, it’s Ann-Marie. She developed the School to Careers course, she implemented the curriculum and she was teaching the courses. That’s where she got a lot of feedback from kids that wanted to see themselves in life beyond high school.”
The Innovation Pathways Program has been in the works for several years but really began with the change of BHS’s personal finance and career exploration courses from electives to mandatory for all students.
“We felt that it was important to make every student take these courses, so that’s where we began,” Ms. Cetner said. “Because the feedback from students on the small change was so positive, we knew we had to continue to build on this momentum. It was positive, it was energizing, and the kids really were getting a lot out of these experiences.”
Students take career and college exploration during their freshman year, during which they get exposed to a variety of career paths and opportunities they can pursue after high school or college. After their freshman year, students can apply for one of the pathways, which comes with the requirement of relevant coursework in the form of both advanced academic courses, through either Advanced Placement coursework or dual enrollment, and career-related technical courses. Then during senior year, students—whether they are enrolled in a pathway or not—can pursue an internship in the field of their choice with a local community partner.
“At Bourne High School, we want to make sure that all students have access so, regardless of if they choose to be in a pathway, they can be in one of our internships,” Dr. Zhou said. “If a student has an interest in real estate, physical therapy, anything you can imagine, they’re actually able to do quite the internship and get some real-life skills.”
Nearly 40 senior interns were at the event, eager and ready to discuss their various internships. Caleigh Wrighter, who wants to pursue nursing after high school, has been working at the elementary and intermediate school shadowing the nurses. She’s learned first aid and epinephrine training and gets to work hands-on in the preschool level’s intensive learning center with nurses providing care to the youngest students with high needs.
“It’s been really fun,” she said. “It’s a great experience.”
Students Ashley Souto, Craig Hill, Shea Ullo and Ben Hopwood all said they are having a great experience at their internship with the Bourne Police Department. They get to use the MILO virtual training simulator, learning about the justice system, and are currently on a lesson about motor vehicle stops. At the end of the year, they even get to join the officers on a ride-along.
The internship placements give students a unique opportunity: to get a taste of what life is like working in whatever field they are interested in, even before getting to college and having to spend thousands to enroll in courses that align with that career.
“Understanding the why; that’s what this is all about,” Ms. Cetner said. “It’s students understanding why, why am I doing this? Why is this class important? Sometimes kids discover through the internship that it is not what they want, and that is equally as valuable.”
Speaking with the Enterprise before the event, Ms. Strode said there are no words to describe the pride she feels for all of her students, especially when seeing them thriving at their internships.
“My greatest moment in my 20 years of being an educator is to have these students come back from their intern placements beaming,” she said. “Every single one, they cannot wait to tell me what they did that day at their internship. They’re showing me pictures of what they’re doing and who they’re working with and the experiences they’re having, and that’s what this is all about. It reminds me why I became a teacher in the first place, and that was to support kids and help them in any way I could.”
During the ceremony, state Representative David T. Vieira (R-Falmouth) commended the district for its success in earning the two skills capital grants from the Baker-Polito Administation that allowed for the purchase of the ambulance simulator and health-related items in the Medical Center and the establishment of the Business Suite.
“By starting here at the secondary level, working with community colleges, our state universities and private colleges, [we are] able to make sure that the young people have a vision of where they want to go but then have the resources to get there,” Rep. Vieira said.
State Representative Steven G. Xiarhos (R-Barnstable) gave some personal insight during his speech, speaking about his education at Cape Cod Community College and his subsequent 40 years as a police officer.
“I come from the City of New Bedford, and I wish we had something like this when I was younger. This is amazing,” he said. “What you’re doing here, Superintendent, is special; it’s just what we need. We want you [students] to learn on Cape Cod and stay on Cape Cod. We need you.”
Mackenzie McMaster, a junior enrolled in the Life and Environmental Sciences pathway, closed the ceremony, taking to the podium to express her gratitude for a program that allows her to explore her interests even earlier than college.
“I’ve been enjoying it a lot,” she said afterward. She is taking AP Biology this year and is looking forward to taking AP Environmental Science next year, she said, because she is interested in climate change and land restoration.
“I think being able to take the AP classes for science is a big boost for college,” she said. “I’m excited because, even if I don’t get the AP score, I still get a good start to the course.”
Evolving the traditional community high school has not and will not be an easy task, but BHS’s administrators and staff have shown their dedication to making that happen.
“I said earlier that the traditional community high school has to evolve,” Ms. Strode said, “and I think that we are living that right now. We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience so that we can set them up for success after graduation.”