Medical internship students Katie Johnson, Kaylee Murphy and Sarah Johnson are working on a unit about childbirth and delivery. In this class students actually get to witness childbirth through labor and delivery from an actual hospital delivery room. | Randy Garrison

HHS helping to ensure student’s success

Randy Garrison

Hartselle Enquirer

One of the goals of Hartselle High School is to provide, in as much as possible a customized education for each student. In customized education, the school will try and meet the needs of each student. This can include helping the students get in the right college, get in the work force upon graduation and even get certification for a career when they graduate.

This goal fits in well with the State of Alabama College and Career Ready standards. Each child should be ready for college, or ready to begin a technical career when they leave high school. There are numerous and almost unlimited ways students can take advantage of this customized education, and the system continues to find ways to increase their ability to help each student.

Hartselle’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Dee Dee Jones and Morgan County’s Career/Tech Director are working together to allow students to take vocational classes at each other’s campuses. For example, Hartselle students could take Auto mechanics and body shop or HVAC at Brewer and students from Morgan County could take EMT classes that will be offered next year at Hartselle High.

Also Morgan County students could be able to take AP classes that might not be offered at their own high school. Of course with either system, this would be on a space available basis. Each system’s students would have first priority in signing up for classes, either vocational or academic.

Another possibility could be Danville or Falkville students taking welding in Hartselle instead of having to travel to Brewer High School.

Another way Hartselle High is working to make sure students are on the right career path is through the Senior Project. This is a flexible pass/fail class that gets seniors outside the walls of the school, where they can gain experience and exposure to a career they are possibly considering.

Corey Wilbanks, career coach, heads up this project in helping students make career choices. According to Wilbanks, many students find out when they get to college they may not really like the choice they have made. By focusing on each student’s strength and weaknesses earlier, it will help both the student and parents, by not wasting time and money on classes in a course of study that may not be their life work choice.

She has found it is helpful to connect students with people in the fields they are interested in. If a student has an interest the Senior Project is a structured way to learn more about their possible choices. The student might go to an engineering office two afternoons at week or another may rotate every nine weeks. She can also act as a liaison to help those who may need help in this class.

Wilbanks says there are many ways to meet the varying needs of students, there is great college prep, which is apparent in the rising ACT scores, and the success of students who are leaving HHS and attending college.

There are also many choices for virtual schools for career tech manufacturing and for technical based training.

Medical professions teacher Lynne Shelton knows the health occupations classes now taught at Hartselle High give students a front row seat, if they think they want to do something in the medical field. In one of the medical internship classes ,the students will actually see deliveries of babies. In class, they work with a computerized manikin learning to access mom and baby during childbirth and delivery.

Hartselle High also offers other academics to help students seek what they are interested in and find out more about what a particular career choice can mean for them in the future.

Hartselle High principal Jeff Hyche says it is important to get kids to zone in and continue to narrow down, to find what they are good at and how they can make a living with those skills.

The school works to expose them to what is available and get them to think. They also try to get the students to avoid wasting time, especially when taking electives. Sometimes kids want to take the easy way out, the school personnel works to help them make wise choices. The costs are negligible including AP and dual enrollment classes. If a student passes an AP Class with high enough scores many colleges and universities will give college credit for the AP class.

He also encourages parents to not let their kids sit at home in the summer. The time is perfect for dual enrollment classes, volunteering, job shadowing or even working. There are also college options available in the summer for students.

“Schools are better than they have ever been,” Hyche mentioned. “We just have to show our kids what is available and then try and meet the individual needs of each student.”

The graduation rate at Hartselle High for the 2014-2015 school year was 97%. The only kids who fail are those who do not come to school. Those numbers represent approximately six kids who started ninth grade and did not graduate.

In fact, Hyche believes if kids will come to school and parents will get them here we get them to be successful. “I know they can graduate high school,” he said.