State Superintendent visits James Madison Academic Campus

MILWAUKEE -- Programs offered at Milwaukee Public Schools' James Madison Academic Campus got the attention of Wisconsin State Superintendent Tony Evers, and Evers took a tour of the campus Wednesday, and saw first hand how a hands on approach to learning is proving to be successful for many MPS students.

State Superintendent Evers toured James Madison Academic Campus Wednesday as the MPS District celebrates Career and Technical Education month. Students at James Madison Academic Campus get training in the classroom that will help them in the real world. "Having hands on experiences is the best way to have students engaged in their high school careers, and they're doing it here. It's just a fun place to be," Evers said.

Students at James Madison can get involved in a variety of specialized programs, from business to robotics. "We try to make sure that our programming is preparing students for high wage, high skill and high demand careers," MPS Curriculum Specialist Eric Radomski said.

MPS Superintendent Gregory Thornton says working with robotics involves putting a variety of skills learned in different subjects to use. "The robot took geometry, it took physics, it took some chemistry, it took some electrical technology. It all comes together and the youngsters are able to make sense of it," Thornton said.

James Madison also has a health sciences program where students can become Certified Nursing Assistants, and some are even placed into jobs while still in high school! "I love hiring the students to work as CNAs in our facility because they care about what they are doing and they love the elderly people and the elderly people love them," St. Anne's recuriter Deborah Briggs said.

These programs are allowing many high schoolers to begin building their career even before their "career" as a student is over. "When you want to do nursing in Oshkosh you have to have your CNA first, so I can say I got that step checked off, and now I'm on to the next and I'm one step ahead of my competition," James Madison senior Yvonne Woods said.

The programs at James Madison Academic Campus are all designed to give students a jump start when it comes to their career and their future. The MPS District offers 18 different career pathway programs for students.