Ignite Program Extends Beyond Traditional Classroom

Today’s high school students need to develop the responsibility, the work ethic, and the people skills that served previous generations well. But at the same time, they need a classroom experience that is a departure from the traditional educational structure; one that connects them with the real world of work and with professionals in various fields.

The Ignite Professional Studies program in the Bentonville Public School District is doing just that.

Now in its second year, Ignite is a great opportunity for students who wish to get some hands-on learning experience in a particular field in conjunction with classroom training.

At this time, students who are juniors or seniors in high school have the opportunity to work in one of four strands: Construction Professions + Management; Medical + Health Sciences; Creative Arts + Production; and Computer + Information Technology. Four additional strands are in the works for the future, in areas such as education, hospitality, global business and retail.

The classes have teachers with experience not just in education, but in a particular field of study. Wendy Broughton has a master degree in nursing and teaches in Medical + Health Sciences. Scott Fusselman teaches video editing and film media in the Creative Arts + Production strand. Chris Weeks has a construction background and teaches in the Construction Professions + Management strand.

The experience for the students varies from one learning strand to another. But all Ignite students can earn six hours of college credit in one school year and have the opportunity to receive a University of Arkansas Certificate in Workplace Competencies. Some strands offer additional certifications based on the technical skills learned in their classes.

Students in the Ignite program earn high school credit in an area in which they have expressed some interest and they get to learn in a situation that is vastly different from textbook learning in a traditional classroom. As a result, the students approach the learning with a new level of interest, and even with some excitement.

“They love this,” Broughton said of the experience. She explained that students in the medical strand benefit from a school partnership with Mercy Hospital and with Mercy Clinics.

“Mercy has teamed up with us in a big way,” she said. “Each time students go over there they see something different.”

According to Ignite Program Director Teresa Hudson, the idea for establishing such an innovative learning experience came from Blue Valley Schools in Kansas City, which is based upon a model known as the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS).

“We began to model it after the CAPS program,” Hudson said. “We belong to a CAPS network in which we can have a collaborative effort among other CAPS schools. We share ideas, we share partners, and we share with some colleges.”

Bentonv i l le Pub l ic Schools Director of Communications Paul Stolt said the Ignite program helps students discover how interested they are in a particular vocation, and it also allows them to explore all possible options available after high school, whether it is college, vocational training, internships, or a regular job.

“It’s not that we don’t want kids in college,” he said, “it’s just that we want them to have a lot of options.”

The teachers said the Ignite arrangement gives each student a unique and meaningful learning opportunity.

“We have all kinds of things that you can’t do in a typical classroom setting,” Weeks said about the construction experience. “For me the main thing is teaching them how to work. It is something that can take them a lot of places.”

Fusselman said the Ignite program is meeting a real need in Northwest Arkansas and that students gain a lot from getting to be out of class and around others.

“It helps to get them out in the field learning from someone besides me,” he said. “It helps to get them out around professionals.”

Fusselman also said that having the involvement of community partners makes it a very special experience.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” he said. “It’s not class as usual.”

Fortunately, for today’s students, more and more schools are exploring the opportunities that can come from a program such as Ignite. When a school district partners with the community and with business professionals, and when students get to learn simultaneously from their teachers and from the real world of work, great things can happen.

“It doesn’t look like school,” Stolt said, “but it’s what school should look like.”