The changes at Bearden in the past year have been abundant, and the next few years will hold many more adjustments for students and teachers alike.

As Bearden establishes the Academies of Business, Leadership, and Communications (BLC), Health, Human Sciences, and Services (H2S2), and STEM and the Arts, students may notice differences in what courses and pathways are offered.

“In order to meet an elective focus, you have to take three classes that go above and beyond graduation requirements,” Bearden principal Mrs. Debbie Sayers said. “The number of pathways in each academy varies, but we chose pathways to fit under the career academies.”

With a system of prerequisite classes, the new structure will ensure that every student in a pathway is offered similar baseline knowledge to their peers. Teachers within academies work closely with one another to create an environment that encourages students to pursue their goals and supports the growth of various communities at Bearden. 

“Freshmen are all in Freshmen Academy and Freshman Seminar, and it’s through Freshman Seminar that they learn about all the pathways,” Mrs. Sayers said.

Students will continue the work that they have done in Freshman Seminar once they are assigned academies, as they will get exposure to field trips and guest speakers from industry partners.

The teachers within academies will also be able to create meaningful connections with students because of their close proximity and collaboration with other teachers.

“Teachers see the same students every day, so even if they are not coming into your classroom you have the chance to know them,” Mrs. Sayers said. “That co-location is where the cross curricular connections and collaborations start to happen, so there will be more of that.”

These close student-teacher relationships start before the students walk through the doors on their first day. In order to prepare middle schoolers for the transition to high school and the academy structure, teachers visited to give them information before the year began. Bearden also hosts events that offer orientation to new students and a chance for rising freshmen to meet mentors and future classmates.

“The Freshman Academy team went and visited the middle schools and just talked to them a little bit about Bearden,” Mrs. Sayers said. “They talked to them about course selection and registration.”

As these students begin their freshman year, they have a chance to learn about the pathways offered from previous students. Freshman Academy ambassador Nora Johnson went through the process this year.

“The first thing that happened was the initial exposure to the academies in Freshman Seminar,” Johnson said. “We took career aptitude tests on YouScience and then watched 10-minute videos on each pathway. Early this year, we chose our final pathways and their corresponding academy. Now we’re waiting to see what academy we will be in.”

Added Mrs. Sayers: “Pathway decisions are announced in May. We decided not to do it sooner because we didn’t want class requests to cause schedule changes. Since this is the first year of going into the academies, scheduling is going to look a little different.”

This process also included the chance for freshmen to discover what they might want to do after graduating.

“It was really helpful and exposed me to careers I hadn’t previously thought of,” Johnson said. “When selecting, I took a lot of time to consider and think about what I wanted to do.”

With this change in the courses offered and introduction of pathways, Bearden is focused on preparing students for their futures after high school.

Along with curriculum and classroom changes throughout the building, students can expect other aesthetic updates to follow. With new murals for the 865 Academies, Bearden campus beautification is under way.

“There is an artist we have talked to about painting the 865 Academy design on the white space in the West Mall,” Mrs. Sayers said. “A similar project will be undertaken for each academy and its location in the building.”