FORT MADISON – Students at Fort Madison High School may have a new program that allows them to save substantially on the cost of a degree past high school, or even enter the workforce with a certificate.
High School Principal Patrick Lamb outlined a Career Pathways program that is now available to students who are entering their freshman year that could allow students to have associates, or eventually the potential of a 4-year degree, when they graduate high school.
Lamb presented the program, which had been in the works for the past couple years, but had been put on hold as the district facilities were reset, at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the school board.
“The intention initially was to have this completed by now, but we put it on hold last year," Lamb said.
“So kids are set up in 8th grade to be really focused on what their learning style is and what their strengths and weaknesses are and then, when they get in 9th grade, they start to take aptitude tests, that kind of thing, to give them an idea of what they're good at, what careers they might match with, and really it takes off from there.
“So our career counselors are helping students to make those decisions.”
He said they are in the process of continuing to develop the program now and a big part is a collaboration with Southeastern Community College. The program is initially starting with eight programs and creates pathways to degrees or certifications for students upon graduation from FMHS. But the program starts when students enter the freshman year.
“I come in as a 9th grader and I'm like ‘yeah I think I'm interested in animal systems’. We can take them to this and give them an idea of what a four-year plan looks like for that student, so when they graduate, they're prepared to either be in the position to be an animal scientist or go to school to be an animal scientist,” Lamb said.
“We're doing this for all eight of our CTE areas so beginning next school year when our career counselors talk to students about what they might eventually want to do - what their attitudes are - what they're good at - what their strengths are, then we can point them in this direction.”
He said the program can be overwhelming because of having to choose classes in 8th grade when they are 13 or 14 years old. He said most of the time parents trust the district to be making those decisions.
“This is a way to provide our parents with the options so they can go to the business section of this catalog and you’ll find marketing and finance and banking, whatever you might want to do financial work,” he said.
“The advisor can see what your 8th grader is interested in and we can flip to that part of the catalog and give parents a solid idea of the courses that we offer at Fort Madison High School or are supplemented through SCC.”
Board member Brad Menke asked what the program looks like as far as the budget.
Lamb said the district pays for the courses students take at SCC while they are still in high school.
“They take those courses as a high school student and they're getting them for free and, maybe as early as next year, you might see students graduate with their associates degree from Southeastern, and before they get their high school diploma,” he said.
Lamb said students could even possibly at some point graduate with an associate degree and a high school diploma at the same time. He said SCC is now offering high school students some other courses during the summer and the district would let students know about those options, as well.
Menke commended Lamb on his team’s work putting the program together.
“Well, I'd like to commend you on this. This is awesome and this is something to be celebrated in our district and for our kids. So thank you very much. I hope a lot of the kids take advantage of it,” he said.
Board president Josh Wykert agreed.
“A two-year degree before you graduate high school, yeah, that's 100 grand in your pocket,” he said.
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