SCHOOL OF THE WEEK: Kensington High prepares students for careers at college | The key to learning

Chanel Hill

Editor at the Tribune

Vocational and Technical Education (CTE) programs, extracurricular activities, college and career planning, and teacher and staff support are all core elements of the Kensington High School curriculum.

“Kensington is a great place; it’s very exciting here, ”said manager Jose Lebron.

“We always stand up for our children,” he added. “We strive to provide our children with whatever we can to help them be competitive and be successful and this is something our children appreciate and respond to.”

Kensington offers its students a variety of CTE programs, including engineering, sports marketing, and IT assistive technology.

At the end of the program, students can obtain certifications accepted in the professional world.

“Students at the end of their ninth grade can choose which program they would like to participate in,” said vice-principal Amanda Schear. “The programs last for three years of lessons.

“At the end they take the NOCTI exam and they have the possibility of obtaining certifications and if they do particularly well in the three years of the test, they can enter the university with the credit of having good. successful, “she added.

In addition to the CTE programs, Kensington offers an award-winning Autism Support Program for students with various disabilities.

The school also has an ELECT program which is a statewide initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and Education.

The program provides support for educational and social services, as well as parenting skills training, to pregnant and parenting adolescents through home visits.

“The ELECT program works with our pregnant and parenting students, new mothers and young fathers to provide support and resources,” said Schear. “They have an office in our building to provide support to these students.”

For extracurricular activities, Kensington offers a plethora of programs including the Bike Club through a partnership with the Bicycle Coalition, the Cine Club through a partnership with WHYY, Robotics, Engineering and Upward Bound.

“We have a core of City Year members who provide academic support and enrichment services primarily to ninth and tenth graders in the classroom,” Schear said. “They will also resume their after-school tutoring and homework program, which is open to all grade levels.

“We have Rock to the Future which meets here on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” she added. “This is a community partner who provides after-school music, guitar, piano, drums, choir, songwriting and digital music production lessons for our students and fellow students. who come to travel to participate in this program. “

In Kensington, teachers and staff go above and beyond to support their students and families.

“None of the great things happening in Kensington can happen without the teachers,” Schear said. “We have the best teaching staff in town. They are the ones who sponsor the after-school clubs and bring ideas for writing grants to find new opportunities.

“They are present at every event, they support our families and our students,” she added. “They even wear our school uniforms to show their support for our students. We have an amazing team and we are so lucky to have them all.

To help students prepare for college and careers, Kensington has an advisory team, orchestrates college tours, and hosts a trade and military fair.

Through a partnership with 12Plus, students are able to develop plans for post-secondary education, whether it’s college, career, trade school or the military.

The goal of the partnership is to ensure that every student graduates from Kensington with a specific plan for what they will do after high school.

“Our consulting team has university visits scheduled almost every Tuesday until the fall semester,” Schear said. “In December we will have a trade and military fair with different professional organizations. The military branches will also be present so that students can meet people from these different career paths.

“Upward Bound is planning a Future Fair this month, which will be organizations that will help students think about jobs that don’t exist today, but might exist 30 years from now, and how to prepare yourself for jobs that do not even exist. exist, ”she said.

“We also recently hosted a special collegiate conference that targeted all of our students who have IEP (Individual Education Program),” she added. “We had a number of representatives from different careers and vocations. It was very successful and the students were delighted.

Lebron has said he wants all of his students to leave Kensington with a plan.

“When they leave us, we want all of our students to have a plan, which is why we work so hard to develop and work with them individually so that they can have their own plan,” said Lebron.

“We want to make sure that we give them all the tools and skills while they are with us, so that once they graduate they will be successful on their next trip and in life. “