CES Career Academies Initiative (CCAI)
Too often schools kill young people's natural desire to learn by overwhelming them with disjointed curriculum that seems to have little relevance to the students' lives, and that give them little concrete connection to the world and people outside of the classroom.
The CES Career Academies Initiative works closely with the Career Technical Education office of the SFUSD to address these issues. The Career Academies Initiative promotes efforts in public schools to:
- Relate curriculum to hands-on career exploration and training
- Integrate curriculum across fields so that, for example, science and language arts reinforce each other rather than seeming to be entirely separate
- Help youth find a meaningful role for themselves, and therefore to find meaning in their studies
The flagship program of this Initiative is the Health Academy at Galileo High School, which offers 140 juniors and seniors:
- Integrated physiology and English curriculum
- 36 hours of on-site career exploration at California Pacific Medical Center
- Training to become an Emergency Medical Technician by City College of San Francisco with early college credit
- Training in Medical Terminology and Medical Mathematics by City College, with early college credit
- Paid internships at Cal Pacific Medical Center, St. Francis Hospital, Northeast Medical Services, and other locations
- Youth empowerment in the classroom to improve community, voice, and shared responsibility
One key aspect of success with career academies such as the Galileo Health Academy is multi-level partnership with the private sector. CES is now one of two Intermediary Organizations assisting the Career Technical Education office of SFUSD to develop more partnerships in the Health field as well as in Hospitality and Tourism, with the goal of supporting at least 6 academies in Health and 4 academies in Hospitality and Tourism by the school year 2010-2011.
Goals
- Program goals for youth participants include:
- Increase sense of belonging in school
- Increase engagement with learning
- Improve academic performance
- Increase motivation to pursue a career through further education
- Initiative goals for the San Francisco career academies system include
- Increase the number of career academies in the SFUSD
- Double the amount of resources that the private sector is giving to support career academies
- Improve outcomes and systemic evaluation of career academy results
Partners
- California Pacific Medical Center
- Kaiser Permanente
- Northeast Medical Services
- City College of San Francisco, School of Health and Physical Education
- The GAP Foundation
- The California Endowment
- The San Francisco Dept of Children, Youth and Their Families
CCAI Staff:
Odette Kinsey
Career Academies Initiative Director
Odette Kinsey is an experienced education manager and school-to-career liaison and coach with a passion for implementing programs and developing strong relationships with community constituents and clients. Over the past 10 years, Odette has worked in both the private and public sectors to provide school-to-career services to youth and young adults. She brings this broad knowledge of program administration to her work as a Director of Career Academy Initiative.
Andrew Kim
Program Coordinator
Andrew is a Bay Area native who has always had a passion for youth programs. As a youngster with busy parents, Andrew was a perennial participant in after school and summer programing. While earning a B.A. in Psychology from Vassar College, he began working with youth at various summer camps and academic programs. After college and an extended stint in Korea – studying Korean language at Yonsei University while also teaching English to college students – Andrew returned to the Yay and working with youth. He found a great home at Galileo (Go Lions!) that allows him to utilize his coordination and counseling skills. When he is not working with youth, you can find Andrew acting like one – or playing Ultimate Frisbee whenever possible.