New Horizons students get fresh start on CBC campus

Having space to conduct experiments is a change for the New Hoizons High School’s science lab.

“Before, science labs were done almost virtually,” said Michelle Smith, a lead teacher at Pasco’s alternative high school. “Now we have a great space to be able to do that.”

About 230 students started classes last week at the school’s new home in the W building on the Columbia Basin College campus.

The $2.4 million remodel was started last winter as one of the final projects included in the 2013 bond.

The state of the buildings became an issue during the 2015 teacher strike, when a teacher brought an enlarged photo of the former school.

It appeared to show decaying buildings, including signs of mice infestation.

The building offers physical benefits to the students, including space for a science lab and a multipurpose room for gym and health classes. It also has the benefit of the technology already installed in the building.

Principal Seth Johnson said the incredible staff at the school now will have facilities to match their programs.

Saul Martinez’s art classes are an example of one of the programs that can only get better with more space.

Though Martinez had award-winning students in his old space, Smith said the students will have more than twice the amount of space to work in.

One of the biggest attractions of moving the school onto the college campus is the ability to integrate the high school students into the college setting.

Being able to visualize themselves at college is important for these students, Smith said.

“If you can see it, you can believe it,” she said.

The goal is to incorporate the high school’s programs with the college’s career training, so they are prepared for work when they finish.

“Our goal over the next five years is to see a ramp up of those programs,” Smith said. “What would happen is (when) a student would come to our campus they would enroll as a high school student, meeting their high school graduation requirements and then ... we would simultaneously enroll them in a professional certificated program.”

By giving students access to a college education, they are giving them a path to the middle class, Smith and Johnson said.

The first program the school is looking at is the college’s early childhood education professional program. The program allows students to become para-educators. The hope is when they leave they will have a head start in finding a job.

“We want to be able to give our kids that chance for that extra advantage,” Smith said “That way, if we have a teen mom on campus, or a teen father on campus, we can break that cycle of poverty.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 12:21 PM with the headline "New Horizons students get fresh start on CBC campus."