Maumelle High School in the Pulaski County Special School District will become home to a Telcoe Federal Credit Union office to be staffed by students for the use of students and teachers.
The credit union branch is a feature of the new Telcoe Credit Union Academy of Business and Service, one of two business- and industry-related academies -- with multiple career pathways -- under development at Maumelle High School.
The alliance between Telcoe and the Pulaski County Special School District's Maumelle campus -- orchestrated by The Academies of Central Arkansas -- was celebrated Tuesday at a gathering of city, business, school and government dignitaries as well as students at the Maumelle High ninth-through-12th grade campus.
The formation of the school/business partnership is one of the latest developments in a multi-year effort led by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce to pair each of the traditional high schools in the Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville/North Pulaski school districts with businesses and industry.
The academies at Maumelle and throughout Pulaski County will enable students to "see education come to life," Jay Chesshir, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock chamber, said Tuesday.
The interdistrict academies initiative is built on the Ford Next Generation Learning model, which is a national model for blending core academics with career and technical education, showing students the relevance of traditional school subjects through the lens of different career fields.
More than 40 communities across the nation, including Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., have adopted the model.
Chesshir said the Pulaski County area academies are not a quick fix but a collaborative effort to transform the high school learning experience for all students and deepen the engagement with the local business community.
"It is a way to ... help young people learn through the lens of things that interest them," he said.
Ninth-graders at Maumelle High and other schools take a freshman seminar course and participate in an annual career exploration event to help them see available careers and identify courses of study that are of interest.
As sophomores, they will select a career-themed academy and take academic courses that they would take anyway but will do it through the lens of their interests, Chesshir said.
"Instead of going to 'Page 157' in a ... textbook, which was about as exciting as watching paint dry, we have the opportunity to take the same specific area we are trying to teach and make it meaningful ... whether it is through health care, whether it's through technology or whether it's through manufacturing " he said.
Students will visit businesses, as well as colleges and universities. During their high school careers they will also participate in job shadowing, internships and mock interviews. They will have access to career mentors, concurrent college credit courses and the chance to earn industry-recognized credentials.
"It's hard to be something you have never seen," Chesshir said about the exposure to the different careers. "We want to show them what that looks like."
Michele Beasley, vice president of marketing for Telcoe, talked about the importance of financial literacy and learning to manage one's money.
That experience can lead to credit union careers in accounting, information technology, marketing, finance and customer service.
"We look forward to working with students in our offices in the summer and we will offer full-time positions to graduates right out of high school and part-time positions to those who want to continue their education in college," Beasley said.
Telcoe will provide in-kind donations and/or monetary donations totaling $150,000 for the first year of the partnership, and $50,000 each year after, up to 3 years, according to an agreement recently approved by the School Board for the Pulaski County Special district.
Within each of the overarching academies at Maumelle High are courses of study or career pathways, Kristin Herring, lead career academy coach for the Pulaski County Special School District, said.
The Telcoe Credit Union Academy of Banking and Service pathways are: banking, entrepreneurship, computer science, education and training, and pre-collegiate preparation.
The previously announced career pathways within the Central Arkansas Water Academy of Science and Construction are pre-engineering (civil/architecture), nutrition and dietetics, health science, and water distribution and construction.