The Arlington Career Center (ACC) is an outlet for students who want to experience a different approach to education. The ACC provides many specialized classes with accompanying work spaces, that are not offered at Mason due to several factors, such as an absence of teachers in the fields, and a matching absence of space.
The ACC was started in the 1980s to provide high school students with educational opportunities more specifically designated to a certain field. This was mainly for Arlington schools, hence the Arlington Career Center, but Mason has had the fortune of partaking in its abundant opportunities.
Though Mason students are able to sign up for some of the classes, not all of them are available to us. Because it was created specifically for the Arlington school district, those schools, Yorktown, Washington Lee, Arlington Mill, and Wakefield High, all get priority over Mason. The students from those schools chose whichever courses they want to take, and they fill the classes as full as they need. The leftovers are offered to Mason, which sometimes reduces the options available to Mason students, but there is often enough space for more than 50 students to take classes.
“This year 54 students attended… it has gone up a lot, from 30 something 3 years ago,” said Mr. Kevin Clark, assistant principal and GMHS’ coordinator with ACC.
Not only are specialized classes offered, but there is space for students to get the full experience of what working in a respective field could look like. Clark described some of the classes that he saw as they were touring the ACC on a field trip.
“They have facilities that are specifically designed to teach certain career and technical classes,” Clark said. “For the auto tech class room, you go in there and it’s like a garage, with four car lifts, and cars in the process of being repaired or oil changes… they have a little mini horse called Snickers and in that course the kids are assigned an animal… and they have huge TV studio for their TV and media productions course.”
“If you like learning with your hands and if you like making things, there are so many great classes you can take” said Ellie Christensen, a senior participating in ACC.
Christensen is taking her second year of culinary classes with ACC. She is interested in pursuing culinary work, and because Mason stopped providing a culinary class her freshman year, she decided to jump on the opportunity of taking them at the ACC. Traveling via the bus, she takes two classes a day there, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Derin Kokuuslu, also a senior, took a sports medicine and physical therapy class last year with ACC because they provided it. Though he is not taking a class there this year, because there was not a higher level class in sports medicine to take, he thought the experience was worth it.
“It’s something that interest me. I think it’s good to get out there and try to study what you are interested in,” Kokuuslu said.
The ACC isn’t just to broaden high school curriculum; if students are interested in a certain career, the ACC can offer Dual Enrollment classes, which count as high school and college credits, but it can also allow students to receive a working license in their specialized field in the case that they want to go straight into the workforce. For example, Christensen has received her ServSafe Certification, as well as her CPR certification through her classes.
It also is a good platform for finding internships in the student’s respective field of interest.
Though Mason tries to do its best at providing as many classes as possible, there are definitely some limitations on what they can offer. Mason’s connection with the Arlington Career Center allows students interested in either a different style of teaching or a specialized course to pursue those interests and gain different experiences.
“It’s a great opportunity, hopefully students will consider it and think about it as an option,” Clark said.
