What’s Right with Our Schools: 3rd Graders Visit Catoosa County College and Career Academy

RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – Academics and Career Prep are side by side at The Catoosa County College and Career Academy. Students can follow several pathways to long term success. High schoolers aren’t the only ones getting a nudge in the right direction. We talked to some third graders about what they want to be when they grow up. It’s a far-reaching example of what’s right with our schools.

Makyla Murray is a junior at Ringgold High.

She explains, “So, today we’ve got third graders from Boynton coming in, and we’re teaching them a little bit about measurement. We’ve got different stations set up with the teaching pathway of different things to measure how to use a ruler, some things that they get to color, and even things they get to walk away from. And then with our construction pathway, we’ve got them building these amazing little contraptions down here.”

Scott McSpadden is a Construction Management Instructor at CCA.

Scott says, “What a privilege it is to be able to bring in some young students to build a love for building things. They get to learn that math isn’t just on paper. They actually get to build some things with the math that they can do. My daughter come across a program in Georgia called construction ready for little builders.”

Kaylee McSpadden is a 3rd Grade Math Teacher, Battlefield Elementary School.

She says, “We did something similar to this last year. They visit us at our school. So, this year with this building, it was just easier to come here and get them to do hands on stuff with building stuff. And one of our standards is being able to read a ruler to the fourth, half and 8th of an inch. So, getting to do that and do it hands-on it helps them learn a little bit better.”

Brodie Norman is a junior at Heritage High.

Brodie says, “Something that’s important to me is, like, seeing all of them having all this fun and then enjoying it and us getting to show them, like, what this experience is like and how, like, maybe when they get in high school like us, maybe they’ll enjoy it and maybe they’ll step up and do the same thing for younger kids.”

Dawn Shiraef is a Future Educator Teacher.

Dawn says, “We have students here who are doing this that come out dual enrollment with GNTC, and so they have requirements of doing lesson plans.  So, they came up with the lessons, they evaluated each other’s lessons, and they picked the best ones. And that’s what we’re executing this week with the third graders.”

She continues, “They’re going to be future teachers. They will need an associate’s degree. If you’re going to go into preschool, need a bachelor’s degree. So, we’re getting them their opportunity to have dual enrollment college credit while they’re here at our career academy. I want them to be able to value education and try to have students in the future value their education and do it and having fun and being organized with what they’re doing and being purposeful, and I think the and students will have a great time doing that.”