December 27, 2024
Tupelo High Schoolers Enroll In Career Academies To Kickstart Career Experience
Ninth graders at Tupelo High School are enrolled in the Freshman Academy to explore career options before they choose a focus sophomore year.
Tupelo High School in Mississippi is kickstarting the careers of its students by enrolling every freshman in a Career Academy program designed to give them a focus throughout their senior year.
The Daily Journal reported that Tupelo Public School District’s (TPSD) Career Academies program is intended to prepare high schoolers for life outside the classroom. The program, which reflects the format of a college major, combines career, technology, and classroom education that prepares high schoolers for career opportunities after graduation. “It’s basically an attempt to give children, students, a vision of themselves in the future and to create students that are globally competitive and locally committed,” said TPSD’s Superintendent of Education Rob Picou.
Students entering the ninth grade are enrolled in the Freshman Academy. By the conclusion of their first year of high school, they will have explored several post-secondary career and education options in preparation for their sophomore year, where they will select one of the available specialized academies: Communication, Arts and Business (CAB), Health and Human Services (2HS), Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), or Middle College.
Through TPSD’s Career Academies, students are prepared for enrollment, employment, and enlistment across specific careers. Although students are still required to complete the state curriculum, the program offers work-based and project-based learning experiences, including job shadowing, mentorship, internships, and community service.
“Career Academies are a complete redesign of how we do business at the secondary level,” Picou said.
TPSD aims to become a model district for the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC). According to NCAC, the coalition established the Career Academy National Standards of Practice (NSOP) in 2010, which are guidelines for developing and implementing career academy programs. The academies, created in 1969, offer students resources ahead of college and entrance into the workforce.
Career Academies are expected to become the standard of secondary education in Tupelo by the 2027-28 school year.
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