Techniques Feb 2013 - 49

Feature
“Small schools embrace core values … which spark
curiosity so they want to go deep in subject matter …
and build skills involving critical thinking, communication,
collaboration, creativity and innovation. One of the best
ways to accomplish this for students is through projectbased and experiential learning,” says Angela Bozeman,
principal of the Olympic Biotechnology and Health School.

photo courtesy of istock.com/mehmettorlak

ously, there has been tremendous effort
and commitment by principals, administration, support staff and teachers as they
integrated best practices and core values
commonly embraced by small schools
across the nation. However, one other
facet becomes clear when you evaluate
Olympic small schools since 2006: there is
a prolific strategic partnership program in
place that supports teaching and learning.
Since becoming a small schools campus,
Olympic can boast having more than
200 organizations that have volunteered
12,000 hours and donated over $2 million
towards project-based and experiential
learning initiatives that help differentiate the Olympic brand of educational
opportunity.
From the initial planning stages of converting itself into a small schools campus,
www.acteonline.org

Olympic has embraced the action strategy
of becoming strategic partners with the
business, faith, nonprofit and postsecondary communities. “Small schools embrace
core values, such as providing a personalized learning experience for students,
which spark curiosity so they want to go
deep in subject matter, use their minds
well and demonstrate mastery of content
in a 21st-century manner where they
build skills involving critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, creativity
and innovation. One of the best ways to
accomplish this for students is through
project-based and experiential learning,
and that’s why we have always actively
pursued the community to become
engaged as strategic partners with 21stcentury teaching and learning,” says Angela Bozeman, principal of the Olympic

Biotechnology and Health School.
A perfect example of how the Olympic
strategic partnership model continues to
grow is based on its collaboration with
Siemens Energy. Together, Olympic and
Siemens have teamed with Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) to offer high school students a European-styled
apprenticeship program that has garnered a tremendous amount of national
media attention after President Obama
referenced it during his 2012 State of the
Union address. The three have teamed
together to “change the world” of their
students by making them career ready for
a Fortune 100 firm.
This public-private strategic partnership model was designed to transform
rising high school seniors into some of the
best technicians in the world over a fourFebruary 2013  Techniques  
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Techniques Feb 2013

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