NORWICH – Times have certainly changed in terms of education, and preparing today's seniors for higher learning and the evolution from high school student to college life poses many challenges, regardless of where graduates choose to embark on the beginning of the rest of their lives.
To aid in the transition, DCMO BOCES Norwich campus – which serves all school districts within Chenango County – offers a specialized program for twelfth graders looking to get a head start on pursuing a career path that not only prepares them academically, but also nods to individualism and responsibility and gives students the opportunity to earn up to six college credits while still being enrolled in high school living at home – which can make the first semester of college coursework less of a burden.
The New Visions Program is one year in length and is available to academically strong high school seniors. The independent study format affords seniors the opportunity to explore a variety of career options in three basic areas of concentration – Health Sciences, Law and Government and Education.
Unadilla Valley senior Corrine Izard was looking for a more challenging curriculum for her last year in school. Her older sister, Cierra, had participated and praised the program a few years prior, so Izard was fortunate enough to have some knowledge of New Visions program and how valuable it was.
“My high school experience was a lot of homework,” the younger Izard explained. “I wanted to gain some real life and professional experience. There's definitely much more of an opportunity for that within the New Visions program, it's not the same thing every day,” Izard said.
Izard, who is actively involved in a number of extracurricular activities at UV – most notably basketball and Honor Society – wants to be a counselor for middle school aged students in the public school setting, and being a part of the New Visions program allows her valuable “hands-on” time in the field. She has traveled to many clinical sites on her own during her rotations and is learning a great deal about educational occupations as well as therapies such as mental health.
“I've been in UPK, first grade and middle school classrooms as well and have spent some time at the county jail working with incarcerated youth,” said Izard “I loved the time that I was able to spend at the middle school working with students who seem to be the most vulnerable.”
Izard explained with excitement how helping middle school students made her feel like she had made a difference, which was in part what inspired her along her tentative career path into counseling.
“I had an experience on rotation with a troubled student who I had the chance to interact with.” Izard said that the student regularly has behavioral issues and often hands in assignments incomplete. “I was able to take him aside and talk with him about the situation, after our talk – he was able to get his homework done in like five minutes which was really exciting for me,” said Izard.
