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I was fortunate this week to share the excitement as Lucia Mar Unified School District celebrated the opening of Central Coast New Tech High, an innovative educational concept that will prepare students to assume productive roles in tomorrow’s job market.
The New Tech model focuses on Project-Based Learning (PBL) where students learn to apply what they’ve been taught. Where a traditional classroom may teach kids about a topic, the New Tech student will actually do the activity. The class may plan and execute a pizza party for area fire fighters (for example) and in the process, get hands-on lessons in budgets, negotiations, marketing, purchasing, organizing, planning — all skills needed in the workplace.
Hats off to Superintendent Jim Hogeboom and his staff for seeing and following through with the vision. It’s a feather in his hat, but the real winners are the students who will be part of the program.