Many have visited the lush gardens and awe-inspiring architecture of the Biltmore Estate in western North Carolina. But most probably haven’t thought about how the place has survived as a business for more than a century.
Kimberly Varner, a Sanderson High School senior, visited Biltmore when she was younger, but she got a behind-the-scenes look at the place when Sanderson’s Academy of Finance took a field trip there a couple years ago.
Marketing is key to ensure a steady flow of guests arrives to the gardens and hotel. Someone needs to keep the rooms clean and organized and the gardens groomed to picturesque perfection. Employees must be paid on time, taxes must be filed.
“There’s so much more going on,” Varner said. “It was eye opening.”
Students in the Academy of Finance at the North Raleigh school learn by interacting with all types of business people and through field trips and classroom visits by leaders. There is an intense focus on group projects aimed at getting students to problem solve and work together.
Evaluations are based on results, and examinations are usually tilted toward open-ended questions instead of multiple choice.
The approach is a departure from the standard lecture format that is familiar in many classrooms.
Wake County has 10 academies similar to the one at Sanderson, and five more will open next fall.
Each focuses on a different subject area – information technology at Apex High School, engineering at Southeast Raleigh High School, environmental studies at Knightdale High School. But they share a common approach to group projects and hands-on learning.
“Kids learn better by figuring out how things work, not from lectures, but by working with other students and problem solving on their own,” said Sonja Burwell, director of the Academy of Finance.
The performance of students enrolled in the county’s academies suggest there is something to that claim. Most notable is the 100 percent graduation rate of academy students, compared to the overall 80.8 percent rate for Wake County students during the 2011-2012 school year.
Academy students have significantly higher grade point averages and are more likely to enroll in honors and advanced placement courses.
Jenifer Corn is director of evaluation programs at N.C. State University’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. She said part of the reason academies are becoming more popular in large high schools is that they provide some of the benefits of a smaller school.
Corn said a few things work better about an academy approach: Students must apply to participate, so there is a base level of interest in the subject matter. They move beyond basic skills to a deeper understanding of concepts through problem solving, and students are more engaged when part of a group.
Teamwork is key, said Varner, the Academy of Finance’s student president who will attend N.C. State next year.
“Even for people who don’t end up going into business, I always say that being in the Academy (of Finance) is like being part of a family,” she said.
Varner pointed to the capstones of the four-year academy: the required internship at a local business during the summer after junior year, and a senior trip to New York City to visit Wall Street, media organizations and other businesses.
Daniel Kinney, a senior in the academy, got a sense of what he wants to do with his life during an internship at Southern Classic Cars in Wake Forest. Kinney plans to attend Appalachian State University or Campbell University, and he hopes to one day have a career that will let him work around cars and people, like SCC owner Charlie Kaleel.
“You look at Charlie, and he loves his job,” Kinney said. “Maybe he’s not getting rich, but he has more than enough to get by, and he found a way to make money doing what he loves. That’s what I want to do. I learned that here.”
Many aspects of the academies’ approach are similar to the goals of Common Core, a set of education standards now used in North Carolina.
Common Core stresses project-based learning, problem solving and assessments that test understanding of concepts instead of memorization of facts and phrases.
“This approach works better for everyone,” Burwell said. “Hopefully it will continue to expand.”