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High school expands vocational curriculum
Students at Clarke County High School will get to choose from among some additional classes when deciding their schedules for the upcoming academic year.
In a May 7 letter sent to parents and students, Acting Superintendent John Taylor announced that the 2008-2009 program of studies will include elective courses in welding, small engine repair, small animal care, equine management, agricultural mechanics and basic animal science, and agricultural education for students with disabilities.
“These new courses emphasize practical skills that could be invaluable tools when determining the choice of a lifelong career,” Taylor wrote.
The extra offerings are a response to requests from parents and students for a broader curriculum, School Board Chairman Robina Rich Bouffault said.
The aim, she added, is “to increase options for those students who want to take another career path” other than one focused strictly on college preparatory instruction.
“These are very practical activities for this whole region,” said Bouffault, who serves as chair of the Clarke County Equine Alliance. “It is becoming very much an equine county.”
The new offerings will complement existing Future Farmers of America activities and allow students to get hands-on experience, Bouffault added. They also adapt well to both the county’s agricultural enterprises and the need for training for careers in demand, she said.
“Vocational education is really important here in Clarke County,” said Bruce Johnson, chairman of the high school’s agricultural education department. “We are an agricultural community.”
Clarke is also a horse community, Johnson added. “Almost every farmer . . . they’re either raising horses, or they’re going ahead and they’re working with thoroughbreds in Charles Town or they’re working with different types of breeders.”
The other new courses also are designed to serve the community’s needs, Johnson said.
During a recent class session, for example, students currently taking an agricultural science class got some hands-on experience in tending the asparagus plants in their garden next to the school.
“I just enjoy that I get to learn about the agricultural part of life,” said freshman Jasmine Grant, who hopes to become a veterinarian or a doctor who treats children or animals.
Another freshman, Sara Enger, who recently placed second in a statewide horse judging competition at Bridgewater College and who hopes to become a zoologist, said the program “gets you ready for pursuing maybe what you’d like to be.”
Contact the reporter at rmarlow@timespapers.com
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