Expanding class options at FHS
Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce members were treated to the harvest of one of those programs when the school’s new full-time string quintet performed during an FWKCC networking Thursday, Nov. 19, in FHS’s library.
“We said we’re going all in” to expand the programs, FHS principal Dr. John Bartlett said. “I’m a firm believer of the arts. As far as I’m concerned, all the arts are core content.”
Overall, “Whether they go into construction or mechanics or anywhere else, they’re getting skills necessary to be successful in the job market,” he added.
One of those new programs, engineering, was part of the school’s Career Technical Education curriculum in the early 1990s before being dissolved.
“It was something that Dr. Bartlett wanted to bring back and putting more emphasis on the CTE classes and offering students a variety of options for electives,” said long-time math teacher Laura Austin, who now teaches the engineering courses.
The curriculum began this year with Principles in Engineering, and “next year, we will add Engineering Design I. The following year, we will add Engineering Design II,” she added.
“We’ve had so many students sign up, actually 250, that we had to offer seven classes. We still couldn’t get everybody in, but we got close.”
“We are also going to offer a robotics class.”
Another program, which counts as a science credit, is agriculture.
“We have two different pathways,” teacher Taylor Case said. “There’s the animal science program, and we have a horticulture science program.
“We have more interest in animal science because we have a lot of students who want to become veterinarians,” Case added.
Agriculture is another program that was previously offered and being brought back into FHS’s curriculum.
“I’m super excited,” Case said. “I think that there’s a huge job market.”
Hartley, a Human-Animal Bond in Tennessee therapy dog, joins Case in her classes.
“She comes to class with me, provides just an outlet for the kids, stress relief,” Case said.
Additionally, Hartley is used as a teaching prop in Case’s classes.
The Residential commercial construction program, a completely new curriculum, is the only one like it in the county because it teaches many skills in one program, said its teacher Richie Patton, who holds an occupational license after being in the construction industry for 17 years.
“It’s different from the other pathways because instead of going through electrical pathway or though the mechanical pathway, he has it all in one program,” Case said.
“Next, we’ll teach project management skills, drawings, electrical, carpentry and a little bit of masonry work,” Patton said.
“… Right now, I have students who want to be general contractors. I can set them up with general contractors so they can have a one-on-one experience with them. Whatever they want to be, I let them get in front (of professionals) so they can have their questions answered,” he added.
The school also is offering a supply chain management class, being taught by Kristy Ramsey, who teaches the management of movement of raw materials from one place to another, said Laicee Hatfield, FHS curriculum principal.
She noted it is being offered through the business department.
