December 17, 2008

Albemarle County schools are launching a new way to prepare students for a global economy with a new Math Engineering and Science Academy.

The school is under construction right now. Construction crews are working on the building. School administrators are working on the curriculum. They are also teaching parents and students about this new opportunity. The vision is to create a direct path for students to launch into a field that's growing in demand.

The academy will begin in fall of 2009.

The academy's director, Jeff Prillaman, is working on putting the curriculum together.

"This simply gives kids who are interested in math and science career choices more alternatives in the school," he says.

The academy will start with about thirty 9th and thirty 11th graders. Teachers want a cross-section of students to study engineering related fields.

Albemarle High School Principal, Dr. Matt Haas, says, "we're looking for students who want to be challenged and want to work on their critical thinking skills and want to engage in project based learning that may mean going into engineering or working on a masters of fine arts some day."

The academy is two, two year programs. During their junior and senior years, students will have job training and shadow engineers. They will also have dual enrollment classes that count for college credit. It's design is to develop the real-world tools of an engineer.

"That creative problem solving skill that you build as an engineer assists you and helps you in whatever career field you go into, it's a great degree to get, engineers are at heart problem-solvers," Prillaman explains.

However, there may be a simple math problem in this program. Demand may exceed supply. Prillaman says, he hopes parents understand it will be hard for them to make selections because the number of qualified students that apply, will be more than the number of seats they have in the classes.

An application will be available January 5th, and the deadline to submit it will be the beginning of March.

Once this academy is running, they're hoping to grow it in size and have about 200 students.

Any Albemarle County student can apply, but they will have to attend Albemarle High School full time.