In 2024, Sierra Pacific High School presented the Education Academy to all incoming sophomores as a way to get involved with amazing opportunities, to meet new people and go on field trips.
The purpose of the Education Academy is to bring opportunities for those who wish to have a career in education after high school. Some opportunities that are given to students in the Education Academy are touring campuses, networking with different educational events, and getting an inside look on education itself. The Education Academy has its very own class for those who are involved, they get to be with their new community and get to know each other better. This class is taught by one of Sierra Pacific’s very own teachers, Robert Isquierdo Jr.
Each grade gets different opportunities. Sophomores are able to make their own book to read to an elementary school. Juniors have a mentorship with different mentors from around the city. And during students’ senior year, students have a chance to intern with a junior high school, or elementary school.
Jerome Landeros, a junior in the Education Academy stated that he enjoyed doing all the different projects so far.
“So far my favorite project was making a book for the kids,” Landeros said. “But I’m excited for the internship as I will be able to learn more about education and experience it hands on.”
Speaking of opportunities, the Education Academy is doing a mentorship program with their junior year students. There are many different mentors that come to meet with the students once a month. Each month gets a different topic to speak about with the students. Some of these topics include talks about professionalism, communication, enthusiasm and attitude, teamwork, community service, networking, and problem solving. During these mentorship sessions, the students get an assigned group with their peers, and one mentor for the duration of the mentorship program. They get through these topics using different activities and scenarios.
Ariana Iniguez, a teacher and coordinator for the academy, expresses the overall goal for the mentorship program for the juniors.
“The goal for the students in this program is to listen to advice from those with real world experiences and embrace the opportunity for connections in the future,” she said.
So far, there have been a total of 10 field trips combined between the class of 2027 and class of 2028. So far the juniors have visited UC Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, California State University Monterey Bay, Jefferson Elementary, Fresno State, Lemoore College, Tulare County Office of Education and FCCLA events. As for the sophomores they have gone to California State University Monterey Bay, Fresno State, and Jefferson Elementary. These trips give the students the opportunities to make connections, gain social skills, and the opportunity to do it with their peers.
The Education Academy does more outside of the field trips they take. Often they have award ceremonies, they give awards such as improvement in academics and improvement on character both in and out of the classroom. The Education Academy also has days out on the field doing activities such as volleyball, water balloon toss, tug-of-war, and a scavenger hunt around the campus. After these activities the students had the opportunity to swim in the on campus swimming pool. Days such as the Field day bring the community within the Education Academy closer together including both staff and students.
Emma Moon, a junior in the Education Academy expressed that since being in the program she feels more confident and made more friends.
“Since being in the academy I have made new friends.” Moon also said “I have also felt more confident both in and out of school.”
