County’s specialty centers offer choice and challenge
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Elli Morris/Chesterfield Observer Briana Keller (front) and other students from the Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center at Thomas Dale High School practice their dance routine to “You Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

Imagine graduating from high school with a list of credits in theatre and the arts on your college application and a strong academic record. Tanner Willis, a senior in the Visual and Performing Arts Specialty Center at Thomas Dale High School, has a 3.9 grade point average and is hoping to go to the North Carolina School of the Arts, New York University or maybe Virginia Commonwealth University to study film-making.

Willis is one of about 1,800 Chesterfield high school students who currently attend one of the county’s 14 specialty centers. The centers allow students to take advanced classes in interest areas such as leadership and international relations, pre-engineering and mass communications. Students must apply to these schools when they are in the eighth grade.

Visual/Performing Arts Specialty Center

When asked what class is his favorite, Willis said, “That’s a hard, hard question.” He enjoys Actors’ Studio 3 where students put on the production, “Bang, Bang, You’re Dead,” and Film Analysis, which is heavy on theory. He played the lead in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and recently finished working on “Oklahoma.” “Oklahoma” ran for three days with a full pit orchestra and was fully cast and put on by students.

Every day there is a production in the works, Willis stays at school until 4:30 p.m.

“The teaching is great,” Willis said enthusiastically, adding that his GPA is 3.7. The average GPA for students in his acting class is 3.5. “We get a very good work ethic,” he explained. Students must complete the core curriculum written by the Virginia Department of Education and take classes in music, dance, art or theater.

Earlier this month, there was a collaborative dance and jazz ensemble performance at the specialty center. “[That’s] not [some]thing you would expect to be able to do in a high school,” said Pam Barton, specialty center chair.

“Thomas Dale is the only school [in the county] with a dance program,” Barton continued, “but they get all they need academically to get into any college. Our students go from here into art, art education, pre-med and physical therapy [at] UVA, VCU, Savannah and Peabody.”

The school has hosted guest artists such as an actor from the Globe Theater, held a workshop on stage combat and attended a performance by the Richmond Ballet. The facilities include a 900-seat auditorium and a smaller 300-seat auditorium. About 240 students are enrolled at the specialty center.

Health Science Specialty Center

Chair Kim Raimist is not only busy teaching three honors biology classes and an AP biology class this year, but she is also planning for the new Health Science Specialty Center that will open this fall at Cosby High School.

While interest has been high in the new center’s pre-med track, Raimist stressed that the center is not just for students who hope to get into medical school someday. It will also provide a pathway for students who are interested in pursuing careers as pharmacy technicians or emergency medical technicians. Another pathway is for those seeking work as clinical lab technicians, dental hygienists, respiratory therapists or opticians.

The pre-med track will help students explore careers as dentists, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists or physicians.

As part of the program, students will participate in mentorships and internships with local health care partners including hospitals, community colleges, universities and other facilities.

An open house in November was attended by 500-600 people who stayed an hour after the event was scheduled to close to hear more about this new program.

The center will offer classes in sports medicine, medical illustration, anatomy and physiology, biochemistry of foods, genetics and others. Freshmen and sophomores will take health science exploration.

“It is designed to support all levels of health care and give the kids exposure,” said Raimist. “Most specialty centers pull from the top 10-20 percent of the students, [but] we won’t because we’ll pull from all who are interested in the health profession.”

The school system hasn’t set a limit on how many students will be admitted, stressed Raimist. It will depend on who applies and their qualifications.

International Baccalaureate

This challenging dual diploma program is based on internationally recognized standards and is available at Midlothian and Meadowbrook high schools. Successful students receive the Virginia Advanced Studies Diploma and the prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.

IB courses are offered during the junior and senior years with pre-IB classes available in the freshman and sophomore years, explained Meadowbrook International Baccalaureate coordinator Carolyn Henly. Students may participate on the higher level (HL), which is more rigorous than the Advanced Placement (AP) classes or on the less demanding standard level (SL) that is comparable to the AP standards. To be considered for the IB diploma, students must take three HL and three SL courses.

This year, there are 14 diploma candidates, and there will be 21 next year. In grades 9-12, there are 117 IB students at Meadowbrook. In six years of graduating classes, all of Meadowbrook’s IB students have finished or are finishing college. The program produces students who are “prepared and able to go to college,” said Henly.

“It’s really a program for people to make their own success,” she explained. In this program, you “earn your opportunity. It’s an all-American experience.”

When the IB model was introduced at Meadowbrook, it was intended to improve the school’s academic standing. The strategy evidently worked. Meadowbrook made Newsweek’s 1,000 Top Schools list because of the increase in the number of AP tests taken from 1999 when there were no IB exams and only 24 AP exams to 2005 when students took 358 AP and IB exams, said Henly.

Meadowbrook does not have an honors program. In the first two years of high school, students take the pre-IB classes, and in the last two, they either take the IB or AP classes. The program has an open enrollment so students may take pre-IB or IB classes even if they are not in the program. While there are only 117 in the IB degree program (juniors and seniors), the program actually serves 400 to 500 students.