I was pleased to read in last week’s Albion News that the Boone Central School’s Career Academies program is off to a good start. In the past high school students with an interest in certain fields, including teaching, could do job shadowing in the school or community.  The new Career Academies program takes this much farther and has the potential to be of great benefit to both our students and our community.

Recently Boone Central Guidance Counselor Lynne Webster was kind enough to explain this program to me.  Boone Central is on the forefront of efforts to help students identify their career interest and gain real-world experience in that field while still in high school.  Not only does this help students plan for college, it demonstrates that rewarding careers in a variety of fields are available not just in cities but in this area as well.  Lynne told me that a significant number of Boone Central students want to come back to this area after college, and this program is helping them realize that there are more rewarding career paths here than many young people imagine.

Potential careers are grouped into six clusters: Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Communication and Information Systems; Business Management; Skilled and Technical Sciences; Human Services and Health Science. So far 22 local businesses are working with the school by providing internships.  Some businesses have even said they will help students who prove to be a good match for their line of work with their college expenses.

Careers in the Health Science cluster are particularly popular today and Boone Central is working with the local Good Samaritan Care Center so that starting next year students can earn their Certified Nursing Assistant certification which they would otherwise have to take classes in Norfolk to obtain.  And next year Boone Central students will also be able to get a head start on an Associates Degree at Central Community College through some programs.

Students don’t always know, though, what they want to be when they grow up in time to take advantage of these new opportunities.  To address this, Boone Central is continuing its partnerships between local businesses and elementary classes to give students exposure to the work world as early as possible.  In Middle School students now take field trips to businesses in each of the six career clusters. Students also take an extensive Interest Inventory that helps identify their strengths and aptitudes in all six clusters.

Once in High School students study more about each of the six clusters and explore career opportunities in this area.  Those who pursue the Career Academies pathway spend the first semester of their Junior year learning communication skills and professional etiquette.  Then in the second semester they begin interviewing for an internship.  Area businesses are willing to help students, but only if those students have the skills and the interests necessary for them to do well in that particular vocation.  These internships are not a way to get out of class for a while – students will be monitored as closely by the businesses as they would be at school, and will have at least as much expected of them.

Boone Central has shown great foresight in developing this progressive approach to education.  By helping students identify their interests at an early age and partnering with area businesses so students can gain real-world experience, Boone Central is repioneering the school/community relationship.  Through their Career Academies program, which currently has 28 students involved, Boone Central is making it easier for young people to build their lives here while providing local businesses with an expanded pool of skilled new workers.

For the second year in a row Emily from Newman Grove asked me to sign her shirt.  And for the second year in a row she caught me by surprise.  It’s customary for the kids to sign each other’s shirts, but I’m just the old guy who sits in the corner.  But, as Emily put it, I am a part of all this, so I scrawled my name next to everyone else’s.

It’s the kids, after all, who do the work.  In just one week they learn lines, songs and even dance steps.  They have to be “off script” by Wednesday and they learn the songs before their accompanist, Sandy Sorell, ever gets there to play the piano for them.

The presenters work pretty hard too, though.  Week after week they drive to new towns, audition aspiring actors ages 6 to 18 and then proceed to teach them not just the play but lessons about life.  They teach them how to make friends with strangers, how to work together as a team.  The plays themselves convey life lessons, lessons about bravery and keeping one’s word that the kids learn by acting them out.

I’m talking, of course, of the annual Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) which the Albion Area Arts Council has been bringing here since at least 1993.  Always the last full week in June, it attracts kids from near and far.  Many of these young actors have been coming faithfully for the eight years Lori and I have been co-directors of the Arts Council, and probably were coming before that.  Emily from Newman Grove is one of them, as are Sam and Josh from Columbus.

Lori and I don’t play much of a role during the week, but we do try to make sure one of us is always there during the rehearsals just in case we’re needed for something. And we help put up the set, set up chairs and sell the tickets, but the kids don’t see much of this so it’s natural for most of them not to think much about our role.

The kids don’t know that planning for each summer’s play begins 16 months ahead of time so we can start securing grant funding.  Ten months before the play we’ve begun promoting it through our season posters, brochures and advertising.  Six months out the actual contract is signed and a deposit made.  Six weeks out it’s time to start a multi-week advertising campaign in area newspapers and radio and TV stations.  At three weeks out it’s time to put up over 100 posters in the greater Boone County area, and at two weeks it’s time to send out press releases for the performance.  As we get closer to the event we make coupons for the kids to get free ice cream at Shorty’s and get the parent letters ready.  Once auditions are over and the cast list compiled, we check the spelling of all the names and enter them into the programs to give out the day of the show.  And afterwards we make sure all the bills are paid.

So I guess Emily from Newman Grove is right, Lori and I are a part of everything, but we don’t care if the kids realize it or not.  What’s important is that they have the opportunity each summer to get together with old friends and make new ones, to try out and learn a part, to get out there on stage and sing and act their hearts out, and most of all, to have a lot of fun doing it.