By Jay Carroll
Staff Writer
The three smaller learning environments at CHS are now one big learning environment.
The academies changed things up a bit during the summer. This year the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics academy (STEM), the Public Service Academy (PSA) and the Emerging Media and Communication academy (EMAC) now share the same core classes; there are kids from each academy in every core class like English and Math. Last year each academy was separate from each other and they did not share any classes at all, whether it was an elective or a core class. While this change is making some students happy, others aren’t as thrilled.
“It’s all mixed between STEM, PSA and EMAC,” sophomore Mark Slette said. “We are trying to get to know each other but I don’t think it’s going to work, but we will see how it turns out.
While some of the students might not like the change, some teachers think it could help the students because they get to meet new people they have not met before. The students also get to be in class with more people than they were with last year when there were three different academies.
“It’s still a school within a school, it’s still a smaller learning environment. You still get to branch out,” Academy World Geography teacher Kody Groves said.
The academies still have the same basic philosophy, they still get to work on what they want to pursue in their future like engineering or media, and the academies still have their own electives like “Advanced Reporting” for the EMAC academy.
“It really depends on how it goes this year,” Academy English II teacher Clara Caussey said. “It could look like last year next year, it could look like this year next year. No one really knows what the academies will be shaped like next year.”
It really all depends on what happens this year. This year, the academies are combined based on the number of returning and incoming students and the number of teachers offering academy courses. If a higher number of current eighth graders join the academies they could go back to the way they were last year when the academies first started.
The only difference to the academies is the fact they share core classes now, and there are a few extra students in each class. The students still receive projects based on their academy focus and what they want to have a career in, which is what they signed up for when they applied to the academies.
Teachers and students in the academies hope this adjustment does not change the mind of the eighth graders thinking about entering the academies.
“Truthfully it could change their mind, but I hope it doesn’t. They are going to be missing out on something great,” Groves said.
