A brand new year at Harrison Central has begun. Sports seasons are in full swing, bus routes are active, and already this year the school has welcomed many new additions to programming and even overcome hardship.
“What’s different about our school is the number of support staff that we have to surround the teachers and students to provide enrichment and remediation — and community. It is really just a wholesome approach to make a difference with kids,” said Superintendent Duran Morgan.
Many students who aim for a college degree find themselves knocking out courses before they graduate. Typically, students would need to sacrifice their time at high school to attend community college for part of the day or take online classes. Now, HC offers on-campus college classes in the school building, allowing students to gain the full high school experience while excelling as far as they choose in higher-level classes.
These classes are at no cost to the student and as many can be taken for college credits as the student is willing to achieve. Classes offered for college credit on-campus at HC are Composition 1 and 2, Literature, Speech, Statistics, Biology 1 and 2, Anatomy 1 and 2, College Algebra, and Western Civilization 1 and 2.
“The national trend suggests that college is now for younger kids. A lot of high-school kids are taking college coursework, and it seems they are able to spring into their full-time academic study beyond high school much easier because of it. We are excited to offer these classes on the Harrison campus,” said Morgan.
In addition to the intensive academic classes offered, Harrison also offers engaging on-campus courses in Agriculture, Engineering, Carpentry, Drafting, Design, Digital Media, and two theater courses (the second being a new addition this year). Morgan noted the almost surprising interest in theater the last few years and credited the department and talented students for the program’s overall success at HC.
In addition to HC’s five-core, which includes reading, writing, math, science, and social studies, students benefit from a sixth academic period that is to function less as a study hall and more as an active time for students to engage with teachers. Both Morgan and Parker felt the introduction of “flex time” was a boon to the student body.
“Each grade level has an open period, or flex period, where they have 30 minutes to go back and talk to any teacher, clarify any questions they had, or get additional instructions for homework,” explained Ken Parker, K-12 Principal.
Morgan stressed the importance of hands-on career readiness, be it college prep, career center training, potential enlistment, or direct job placement. Last year, 40% of graduates attended a four-year college, 26% attended a two-year college or trade school, 4% enlisted in the military, and 30% directly entered the workforce. This range of opportunity calls for creativity on the school’s part to provide as many diverse ways for students to experience potential future options as possible.
To quote HC’s mission statement, they “partner with parents and the community to educate, empower, and enable all students to become caring, contributing citizens who can succeed in an ever-changing world.” Here are some ways the school practices their mission:
– Project-based learning classes look more closely at one specific area, allowing students to explore topics more in-depth and learn proper research practices.
– Job shadowing is mandated in grade 12 for students to get an idea of a realistic day in the life.
– Financial Literacy is a required high-school class that outlines basic investing, mortgages, cost of living, and other practical topics students will need to know later on.
– The Business Advisory Council is made up of community partners who are involved with the school and student body in different ways.
– Digital citizenship is a class built into the junior-high curriculum, introducing what a reputable website is and is not, the consequences of a student’s online footprint, and the dos and don’ts of technology
Harrison Central unfortunately had to navigate the suicide of a student as the year began, and both Parker and Morgan expressed their condolences and the difficulty everyone has faced through this situation. They noted that they were ready to come back at the start of the year, ready to be together, ready to use comradery to overcome the hardship.
“It was an emotional start with everything that went on, but it’s coming around. We are getting back to a ‘normal’ time. I’m just grateful for the tight-knit community of the school,” said Parker.
