Jason Gentry

Neshoba Central High School students will soon get the chance to learn about careers without leaving their campus.

Starting next school year, the school will offer career academies for rising ninth graders. The program will mainly focus on science, engineering, math and technology (S.T.E.M.) and careers in the health sciences.

Jason Gentry, principal of Neshoba Central High School, said that instead of students attending the career and technical center in downtown Philadelphia, they can take classes on the Neshoba Central campus. Some classes, such as medical terminology, will still be taken at the center.

Gentry said the idea for the academies came after superintendent Lundy Brantley and counselor Madison Edwards toured a school in Illinois last year. The school offered different academies and tracks for students. With support from Brantley, Gentry decided to  bring the program to Neshoba Central. 

The idea is to provide many options for students, Gentry said, with the hope that they find something they are good at.   

“We want all of the students to fit into a little niche,” Gentry said.

Gentry said the school is trying to move away from just teaching math, science and history to include skills from the career and technical field.

“The more we get our kids prepared for real life…it means we can get them set up for future success,” he said.

The program is open to students currently in the eighth grade. So far, about 20 students have signed up for the health science academy, while about 15 have signed up for the S.T.E.M. Academy. Once students are in the academy, they will be in a cohort and take classes together. 

Dana McLain, the school’s assistant principal, said the program will allow students to take a deeper look into possible careers by conducting research and going on field trips. McLain hopes that by a student’s senior year, they’ll have a better idea about their future after graduation. 

McLain also hopes the program will give students a leg up compared to their peers. 

“We feel like it’s going to better prepare students,” McLain said. “We feel like we are giving our students an advantage that others might not have.” 

As the program grows, more areas may be added, Gentry said.  

“We want this to be a starting point, not really a destination,” he said.

Other business

The new football stadium at Neshoba Central will be finished by the end of May after being closed since the end of the 2018 football season. Work on a new cafeteria at the high school is also underway.