By Dr. Wally Holmes Bouchillon
Career academies are not new in Florida. They can be found throughout the state in every possible locale. One rural career academy school with approximately 200 students, and a nine-year history, Jackson Academy of Applied Technology (JAAT) in Marianna, Florida, has modeled integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum activities that rival most others in the country.
In 2000, under the leadership of Principal Randy Free, Jackson Academy decided on a school-wide theme to be used in each of the five career academies and their academic teams. The integration theme centered around water (quality, quantity, accessibility and availability) has produced some great student and teacher experiences. Water quality, quantity, accessibility and availability is a theme that has been carried forward each year, offering different problems for student research.
Each of five career-focused academies, including criminal justice, art, technology, communications and health, career academy teachers to ensure their courses provided authentic activities that further improved the students? depth of understanding of the importance of water.
Mathematics and science teamed up with the environmental scientist on campus to conduct water experiments and write technical papers. The students in health, technology and other subjects studied every aspect of the Florida wetlands in their home county of Jackson, which has the Chipola River running through it. Students also interviewed old settlers to find out about ?yesterday?s? water problems and challenges and then wrote and performed plays, poems and essays related to water.
Curriculum interdisciplinary instruction took on a unique face as students and teachers thought of ways that water was important in their lives. Many of the water activities were student driven with the teachers coaching on the sidelines. Some of the projects and activities that students led included the research and input included in writing grants and obtaining funding for environmental water-related projects. The school has been able to secure at least one water-related grant every year since and has received several state and local honors and awards for its water initiative-driven projects.
Thus far, the students and teachers have brought in more than $50,000 in funding to be used in their water research and improvement projects. In one of their projects, students learned that the drinking water in Jackson County was the third MOST toxic in the state. They developed and expanded their partnerships with the community and state to study the problem and to come up with ways to improve the water.
Unexpected outcomes included the school being selected as a partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a data collection center. The students with their teachers reforested more than 40 acres of the wetlands around the Chipola River. They also planted more than 10,000 trees in the area wetlands in conjunction with the SunTrust Bank, local garden club, Department of Agriculture Conservation Service and Master Gardener program. The JAAT students studied water-related diseases, endangered species, landscaping, and built habitats for endangered species.
Communication arts created documentaries on different water-related activities and several short programs on the water-related projects. In addition, students taught other students in surrounding schools what they had learned through service-oriented presentations.
More than any other element, the tremendous partnerships and respect for the students and school through their community-based participation in providing service to their community have been amazing. The students have gained valuable lessons in life and the importance of being active in their community and protecting the environment.
Wally Holmes Bouchillon, Ph. D. is an associate professor in career and technical education at the University of West Florida. She has worked with the school as a mentor and coach on integrated learning for several years. She can be contacted at wholmesb@uwf.edu.
