CENTERTON -- Landon Norman struggled to stay motivated in school until about eight months ago when he heard about a new construction-related class.
Norman, 17, said he began applying himself at school like never before in anticipation of joining the Bentonville School District's Ignite Professional Studies program. The program's construction professions class began last week with the start of the 2016-17 school year.
Funding
The Bentonville School Board in May approved spending $203,210 to expand the Ignite program from one “strand,” or career area, to four strands for the 2016-17 school year. Bentonville High School Principal Jack Loyd agreed to put another $100,000 of his school’s budget into Ignite as well. The money pays for instructors, computers, tools, supplies and renting of space.
Source: Staff report
"This is something where you can learn a trade, something you could be using for the rest of your life," said Norman, a senior at Bentonville High School. "So I think that's what really helped me connect more with school and realize this is a means by which I can get to where I want to go."
Ignite engages students in project-based learning opportunities with business and industry partners, allowing the students to explore a potential career through internships or client-based relationships.
Ignite began last fall on a pilot basis with an information technology solutions class. It has expanded this year to include construction professions, creative arts and production and medical and health sciences.
Ignite's enrollment has grown from 15 students last year to about 100, said Teresa Hudson, Ignite's director. She hopes to add three new "strands," or career areas, to the program next school year in culinary arts, education and global business and networking.
Northwest Arkansas businesses are doing their share to support Ignite, Hudson said.
On Monday, students in the construction professions class unloaded a pickup full of ladders, shovels, saws, drills and other tools they will need for class.
All of the equipment -- worth nearly $15,000, according to the School District -- was donated by Burckart Construction of Bentonville and Garner Building Supply of Rogers.
"It's important to show that small business supports education," Burckart said. "Especially when we're asking them to produce students with the skills necessary to start with our companies."
Chris Weeks, teacher of the construction professions class, said many people talk about wanting to see vocational education come back to the schools.
"We actually have people now who have stepped up, given from their own pocket, given their own time, and now we have the tools to go on and use to train our students. For us, this is huge," Weeks said.
Weeks' class meets for two-and-a-half hours each afternoon at West High School. Most of his 18 students travel from Bentonville High School for the class.
The students will learn basic safety and earn certification through online training by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. Then they'll get actual experience working on residential and commercial building projects, Weeks said.
Weeks said he hopes to let students visit a job site for the first time either this week or next.
Molly Hedberg, 17, is one of two girls in Weeks' class. The Bentonville High School senior ordered pink construction boots to wear on job sites.
"I'm just really passionate about architecture and building," Hedberg said. "So I thought construction would help me better understand how things are built, the way things work in our world. So I'm just hoping I can network through it and learn a lot, and get experience and hopefully one day be building amazing houses and buildings for people."
Being part of Ignite involves a big commitment of time that could interfere with a student's other interests, such as sports and other extracurricular activities.
"So we're appealing to a group that this really is their focus, and they've sacrificed to be here," Weeks said.
Ignite is modeled after a program that started in the Kansas City area. Hudson and Bentonville High School Principal Jack Loyd -- who at the time was an assistant principal -- traveled to Overland Park, Kan., two years ago to observe the Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies.
They and others from the district reached a consensus the program would be good for Bentonville.
NW News on 08/24/2016