A student accesses CareerPorts curriculum via his laptop computer at Wunsche Senior High School, a Career Academy in Spring, Texas. Students utilize CareerPorts as virtual internships.
High schools are changing. Nowhere is that fact more obvious than in Spring, Texas, where a change in curriculum implementation has resulted in a school name change. Wunsche Senior High School is now Wunsche Senior High School, a Career Academy.
The name says it all.
Aimed at providing a rigorous learning experience that is relevant to students’ personal interests, Wunsche is set up around three towers – professional, technological, and medical – and students in Grades 10-12 may pursue their interests in any of the six career areas including biological sciences, business and finance, teacher preparation, legal studies, medical sciences, and technology.
A key component of the students’ experience is internships that enable them to experience a taste of the real world in their chosen fields. That’s where Synergistic Learning Systems’ CareerPorts come into play.
Students are allowed to take CareerPorts as a virtual internship if they cannot line up an off-campus internship in the community, which is located just north of Houston.
“We have found CareerPorts a good option for students who were not able to participate in an on-site internship,” said the school’s Director of Professional Learning Experiences, Mary Lou Schouweiler. “The programs are very good with many opportunities to interact with the instructor.”
Internship Coordinator Julie Gill said the CareerPorts simulate a real-world work environment.
“It has been an effective way for us to create career experiences for students who are unable to physically participate in an internship,” Gill said. “The work is real, and I feel that these students have an internship that is equal to the students who actually go out in the field.”
Wunsche has an enrollment of about 1,500 students who participate in 32 different areas of study. Among the facilities on the Wunsche campus are a full-service credit union branch, a student-operated coffee shop and store, a conference center, a research and development center, a fitness center, and an outdoor jogging trail.
Yes, high schools are changing!