What’s Right With Our Schools: Polytech Academy at Chattanooga State
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – All too often kids head off to college without any real idea of what they want to do. That can waste time and tuition. The Polytech Academy at Chattanooga State streamlines that process for Hamilton County students. That kind of efficiency is a shining example of what’s right with our schools.
Dr. Lyn Potter is the Department Head of Engineer Systems at Chattanoga State.
She explains, “Polytech Academy at Chattanooga State is a collaboration between Chattanooga State Community College and Hamilton County Schools, where high school juniors and seniors can come to Chattanooga State and get a jump start on their career and college. They can go into either mechatronics technology, chemical engineering technology, or computer science. Chattanooga State chose these pathways because of our industry partners are saying they needed that workforce. We’re trying to develop that pipeline earlier in the student’s lives, rather than wait until they graduate from high school.”
Aliyah Adams is a junior at East Ridge.
She says, “What brought me here was the opportunity to be able to see what college is like while I’m still in high school and to be able to figure out if this is what I want to do.”
Esther Villanuva is also junior at East Ridge.
She adds, “I’m kind of more of a person in a lab, like doing work on a lab, but yeah, I mean it’s interesting. It’s fun.”
Kristi Slack is the Lead Mathematics Teacher at Polytech Academy.
She says, “A student that comes to Polytech Academy has a curriculum map that takes them through graduation; that focuses on their interests, their strengths, what they want to do. ”
East Ridge junior Abbie Aaron says, “It’s more an actual college; classrooms and environments, and it helped get me more prepared for if I go full-time.”
Fellow East Ridge Junior Jalen Ellis chips in, “With this program they actually have internships that will actually put you in position, to actually go out and work, and it helps you maybe even get a job in the future.”
Alexander Aviles is the Mechatronics Program Lead at Polytech.
He explains, “I think it’s a better way of understanding electricity, you know. Instead of talking, using books and theories, they can actually see the devices and how electricity works.”
Kristi Sack adds, ” Our students can experience all of the different things while they’re still in high school, covered under a grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents in the state of Tennessee. So, our parents don’t have to fund their exploration which is typically what they do, their first and second year of college.”
Eshter Villanuva concludes, “I would just say if you’re not really thriving in a traditional environment, and you kind of want freedom, and you just want to get a feel of something different, and then just come to Polytech.”
