NHS Career Academies Have Help from Industry Sources
NEWINGTON - Newington High School will have to wait a couple of years before the arrival of its own version of the biomedical science academy that just launched at Martin Kellogg Middle School, but it saw a grand opening of its own this fall.

       The district’s Information Technology/Digital Innovations, Business Finance/Management and culinary career academies are officially in session and, as is the case with Martin Kellogg’s biomedical program and the aerospace engineering STEM academy that is on its way at John Wallace Middle School, students and teachers will be equipped with insight from industry professionals.

       Teachers in the Information Technology/Digital Innovations program obtained Google certification, which means that they can teach â€"Google courses,” said Newington Superintendent of Schools Bill Collins. This way, the district does not need to enlist Google representatives to steer the curriculum on a day-to-day basis, he said.

       Courses will also be modeled to route students toward Microsoft and Adobe certification, Collins said.

       â€"You can get a job right out of high school,” Collins said. â€"If you graduate with a certification from Microsoft or Adobe, you can get hired.”

       The employment connections are there, but what, exactly, will students be learning? That depends, Collins said.

       â€"That’s so wide,” he said of the different fields that encompass Information Technology/Digital Innovations. â€"You can do mobile app development, gaming. You can do graphic design. You can go down the IT pathway. If you want to run wires, we actually put the cables in a room so you can run your own network.”

       Making the necessary rennovations to accommodate both the IT/Digital Innovations and Business Finance/Management Academies cost the district $39,000. The culinary program has also started course work, but there is a major piece to that academy that the district will have to wait to move forward on.

       Plans call for a transformation of the high school’s wood shop space into a 120-seat conference center where students can get real world experience catering and serving guests.

       â€"Not even as a simulation,” Collins said. â€"We’re hoping to have events there. That’ll give kids real life experience in how to book events, plan events, cater, and market events. They’ll have to deal with customers, make sure that there’s a profit margin, and that their food costs are covered.”

       Collins added, â€"It can be done--I’ve done it before.”

       That was back in the mid 1990’s, when Collins was an assistant principal at Hamden High School. Culinary and hospitality students opened a restaurant, complete with 501 C3 registration. They made over $80,000, and it all went back into the program, Collins said.

       He hopes to establish a similar model for Newington High School.

       â€"We’re hoping that it’ll be a self-sustaining program,” Collins said.

       Hamden High School’s was, and it is still up and running, according to Collins.

       The $500,000 renovations needed to establish the conference center had to be deferred due to an unexpected need for PCB removal at John Wallace’s own shop space, which will require that the walls be completely removed.
MORE NEWINGTON NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Sep 24 2014  |  COMMENTS?