On the second day of Bridge, participants had the chance to visit schools across the educational continuum in Guilford County to learn from students, teachers, and school leaders. Participants were divided into five groups and visited: Allen Jay Elementary, Allen Jay Preparatory Middle, the STEM Early College at NC A&T, the Middle College at NC A&T, and Guilford Technical Community College’s Aviation Campus. The following descriptions were provided by the schools.
Allen Jay Elementary
Allen Jay Elementary lies adjacent to Randolph County, serving over 470 students from PreK to 5th grade. It is a neighborhood school serving southern High Point and Archdale. AJE students attend Southern Guilford Middle and Southern Guilford High School in Greensboro. Allen Jay offers two dual language programs, English-Spanish and English-Urdu for students in the kindergarten. This program will expand a grade level per year. Almost 50% of their student population receives ESL direct services. They are an Arts Integration Academy where teachers integrate the arts into the content areas.
Allen Jay Preparatory Academy
Allen Jay Prep Academy is a full district magnet that emphasizes leadership development and college preparation. They have 400 scholars in grades 5-8 and focus on five key pillars: character and service, academic challenge, innovative instruction, leadership development, and effort and commitment. AJ Prep has exceeded growth for multiple years including the top growing middle school in the county last year and in the top 5% for growth in the state. They partner with the Ellison Foundation and the Phillips Foundation who support their scholars’ trips to universities and target support for scholars needing additional tutoring in reading and math.
The STEM Early College at NC A&T
The STEM Early College at NC A&T is designed to serve highly motivated, high-performing students with an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. Rich in diverse cultures, perspectives, and ideas, the STEM Early College employs a real-world and problem-based method to help students develop critical and unique thinking skills. A key point of the STEM experience is participation in the capstone research project during the freshman and sophomore years. Students engage in the engineering design process to develop and test different ideas and solutions to problems facing engineers in today’s world.
The Middle College at NC A&T
In 2003, The Middle College at North Carolina A&T opened its doors as the first all-male public high school. The Middle College at A&T is a collaborative effort of Guilford County Schools and North Carolina A&T State University. The school strives for excellence by providing male students an opportunity for success through the use of 21st century teaching and learning and provides a nurturing environment with small classes which allows students to boost their self-esteem. Students are encouraged to take university classes while attending high school with the opportunity of earning up to 2 years of transferable college credit. With consecutive years of a 100% graduation rate and 100% university acceptance, The Middle College at A&T continues to produce young men ready for life and any endeavor they choose.
Guilford Technical Community College
The T.H. Davis Aviation Center, also known as Aviation I, opened in 1989 to accommodate the growing Aviation Maintenance, Management, and Avionics Programs that had been running since 1970 at a smaller facility. This campus has 36,000 square feet of classroom and lab space, along with a 12,000 square foot hangar tied to the airport movement area. The facility serves over two hundred students per day in various aviation degree programs. Aviation II is an additional facility on campus that contains 7 classrooms, 14 specialty laboratories, as well as faculty office space. The campus serves as primary home for the Aviation Electronic (Avionics) Program, the QMC (Quick Manufacturing Careers) programs, but also supports sheet metal, composites, and NDT labs for all programs. The campus serves over 100 students per day.
