Ready for work

BHS professional, vocational academies focus on careers

For the third time in three school years, Bayonne High School’s Academy for Fine Arts and Academics will open new facilities, but this year will be different, as two academies will launch.
Two years ago it was the ribbon cutting for the academy’s fine and performing arts track. Last year, it was the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) wing.
This year the Academy for Professional Studies and the Career Academy will be added.
“The Bayonne Board of Education is continuing to expand the successful academy approach, with increased pathways to success in college and careers for all students at Bayonne High School,” said Academy Coordinator Laura Craig.
In the Academy for Professional Studies, students will learn business basics and then further their studies with specializations. These include marketing and advertising, accounting and finance, business management and entrepreneurship, fashion design and marketing, computer programming and game development, and hospitality and tourism.
“The important thing is to prepare the students entering a business program after Bayonne High School or preparing them to leave Bayonne for the business world with the skills to enter an entry-level job,” said Tim Craig, director of business studies. “They can say, I’m leaving and I can go to college, or I can work in the business world and go back to college later.”
One of the program goals is also to ensure that all seniors have personal financial literacy.
The revitalization of the Business Education Program at the high school includes a close partnership with the New Jersey City University School of Business, which will provide the academy students with a number of benefits, including summer programs and working with professors and current business students at NJCU.
Tim Craig is enthusiastic about reinstating the fashion merchandising program, which had been suspended for many years.
“Once again, students will be designing and creating clothing,” he said. “And they’ll also be learning how to sell them.”
The entrepreneurship program will launch next summer with NJCU. Professional business leaders, some of them millionaires, will be on board.

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“The important thing is to prepare the students entering a business program after Bayonne High School or preparing them to leave Bayonne for the business world with the skills to enter an entry-level job.” – Tim Craig

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“They’ll receive pitches like on “Shark Tank,” Tim Craig said. “Students’ best ones will be given a green light, and will be awarded a prize by the school. In rare cases, the green light will be given to have the idea produced.”
An honors program will be offered through NJCU.
“I’m extremely proud of the honors program and excited about the opportunity it gives students,” Laura Craig said.
The program offers classes taught by the academy’s business educators. Students can take them at BHS, or take the course at college at a reduced rate. The best students have the opportunity to study abroad up to three times. Or they can take summer internships and enter the business world.

Useful skills

The vocational academy seeks to send students into the world with real-life skills. “We didn’t have the tech wing anymore, but we still had the shops,” said Laura Craig. “We had classes in carpentry, construction, and welding.”
The Career Academy will provide students with opportunities to acquire marketable skills for the 21st Century labor market.
Students can use the skills learned here to go to trade school, college programs, or right into a career.
“We want to make sure they’re going to be successful going into the job force right from Bayonne High School,” Laura Craig said.
To give students ample time to hone their skills, they are given four-period blocks of time to work in various shop classes.
Students will also spend time off campus in real-world job settings.

Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story online visit www.hudsonreporter.com.

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