Warrior Quest: Unlocking College and Career Opportunities at Woodlawn High School is published occasionally. Its purpose is to highlight ongoing movement towards preparing students for life after high school.
ready earned an AA degree, and four more will finish one last class to earn their degree this summer. Five hundred and forty college credits have already been earned, springboarding many of our gradu - ates directly into year two or three of earning their four-year degrees. Eighteen student apprentices com - pleted a combined total of over 10,245 paid hours working in their fields including IT, Electrical Engi - neering, Masonry, Metal Fabrication, and other skilled construction trades. Our nine teaching apprentices became integral members of team BCPS as they served soon to be warriors in our feeder elementary and middle schools. This year we had 22 seniors who earned the Maryland Seal of Bilit - eracy on their high school diploma. Twenty students demonstrated mastery in speaking, listening, reading, and writ - ing in Spanish, and two more for Arabic! Let us not forget the class of 2024 has led us to not one but two state championships this year! The num - bers don’t lie. When we talk about reclaiming a legacy, our most recent graduating class has already begun that work within our school community. We are so excited to contin - ue to build on this foundation and achieve even greater successes! Jamel Jernigan
Page 3 Class of 2024 Graduation Pictures Contents
O ur theme this school year has been “Reclaiming Our Narrative,” a powerful re - minder that we are each the editor and co-author of our own stories. One facet of this work is reclaiming our school’s legacy, which includes ensuring that every student is provid - ed with the opportunities and support needed to achieve their fullest potential both during and beyond high school. I am beyond proud to announce that our brilliant warrior graduates in the Class of 2024 have earned 2,842 college acceptances, joined three branches of the armed forces, and been awarded a combined scholar - ship total of over $4.1 million dollars. Five warrior scholars have al -
Page 4 Let’s Explore
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ABOUT “Warrior Quest: Unlocking College and Career Opportunities at Woodlawn H.S.” is published occasionally. Its purpose is to highlight ongoing movement towards preparing students for life after high school. Questions or concerns re- garding its content may be directed to Kimberley Simms, kharrissimms@bcps.org.
Page 6 Ensuring Students Success
Credit: Andrew Hall, Senior
2024 Exploration Camps College Exploration Camp College Career Readiness Camp with a Multilingual Option Leadership Development Camp Culinary Careers Exploration Camp Engineering Careers Exploration Camp Exploring STEM Careers Using VEX Robotics Business and Marketing Careers Exploration Camp Real Estate Careers Exploration Camp Computer Science Careers Exploration Camp
Let’s Explore! More than 160 middle and high school students engaged in career exploration camps at Woodlawn High School during the last two weeks of June. Camps featured hands-on activities, field trips, a fo - cus on students’ 6-year plan and more importantly, fun! Students were kept busy with tours of companies like Phoenix Metals, Tulkoff Manufacturing, and C-Care Manufacturing Company. They explored the University of Baltimore, Goucher Col - lege, Bowie State University, Morgan State University, Mc - Daniel College, University of
Maryland Baltimore County, CCBC Essex and CCBC Ow - ings Mills Center, and met with admissions representatives. Students learned tools to be - gin planning for a successful life, how to access free college credits after visiting CCBC Catonsville, explored careers in zoology at the Baltimore Zoo, learned about programs at Lincoln Technical Institute and North Atlantic Trade School, toured Southwest Airlines and the Dr. Samuel D. Harris Na - tional Museum of Dentistry. Students also had the op - portunity to fly drones and take part in airplane simu - lations with the CCBC Ca - tonsville Aviation Program.
Financial Literacy Exploration Camp Healthcare Careers Exploration Camp
I t’s a hard decision for most students. Yet, when provid - ed the right infor - mation, the challenge can become manageable. “… I’ve been looking at colleges since mid - dle school, but this has given me a more hands on approach,” said se - nior Trey Bell, de - scribing his experience during Woodlawn’s Col - lege Exploration Camp. More than 20-plus stu - dents took part in the camp. Led by Woodlawn’s col - lege guru, Mrs. Diane Crockett, WHS resource teacher, students visited the University of Balti - more (UBALT) Gouch - er College, University of Maryland Baltimore
County (UMBC), CCBC Essex and CCBC Owings Mills Center, McDaniel College, Bowie State Uni - versity, Towson Universi - ty and Morgan State Uni - versity over a two-week span at the end of June. There were four themes for this camp: “I Am Col - legebound,” “If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me,” “No Deposit, No Return,” and “Preparation Is The Key For College Success,” “These themes helped the students to ask them - selves why go to college? What is the right college that fits their needs both academically and so - cially?” said Ms. Crock - ett. “And prepares them to pursue their career goals and aspirations.” “I learned about the dif -
Students toured Towson University and met with ad- missions representatives.
ferent programs each college provided, their popular majors, tui - tion cost, their cam - pus set up and why it’s important to apply for scholarships,” said Er - ica Tolson, a sopho - more who says after the tours she “did remove some schools from my list because they didn’t meet my best interest.” Some students consid - ering attending school out of state saw this as an opportunity to consider all options. Chelsi Gaynor, said, “Although I want to go out of state, I wanted to see colleges [that were] more cost efficient and make sure that I’m re - viewing all my options.” “ However, I do want to make sure I get the full
picture of Maryland col - leges before I make those decisions because it is ex - pensive,” said Trey Bell. During the course of the camp, students learned about financial aid, the importance of finding key offices on campus, and un - derstanding the ‘look fors’ that should top their list. “I also got to see the campus and to see if that would be a place I want to live,” said Gaynor. “I learned what I was looking for in a college; what was important to me, and what I could poten - tially get from a college,” said Amira Paulding, sophomore. “I actually added col - leges,” said Kyree John - son, junior.
Students worked with Ms. Crockett, resource teach- er, and Dr. Hayes-Agent, career counselor, to under- stand the nuances involved in the college application process.
Ensuring students success
NJROTC at the annual Fun-Fun Day
WHS’s NJROTC presented Color Guard during the installation ceremo- ney for Martin O’Malley, Social Security Commissioner.
McDaniel College tour
M any students will go to col - lege, but all students will go to work is an oft used phrase by Alicia Fales, BCPS’s Career and Technical Education Supervisor, School to Career Transition. BCPS’s Career and Technical Educa - tion Office is focused on guiding stu - dents in creating a roadmap for future success in college, career or work. A new career navigation model for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year will usher in an intense and renewed focus on student preparation.
Plan in Place Career Navigators and school staff will collaborate with students to help them create a life punctuated not by lacklus - ter endings, but continued success built on a foundation of knowledge and skills. The goal is to guarantee stu - dent’s successful trajectory, wheth - er in a trade, career or university. Planning to achieve this goal began during the 2023-2024 school year. During the year, all students were offered opportunities to engage in
Ensuring student engagement was paramount. Teachers used data from personality and ca- reer assessments to determine trips, speakers, and activities.
A student admiring her reflection during a White House tour exploring careers in the government.
misisions personnell from local col - leges and universities like the Com - munity College of Baltimore County, Stevenson University, Coppin State University, Mc - Daniel College and much more.
Quality versus Quantity
MD Year of Service presentation
Field trip and presentation planning was informed by data acquired through assess - ments like Traitify, a career tool which gathers and analyzes student preferences and provides real time synthesis related to future careers, personality traits and more.
PLTW Biomedical Science senior
Continued on Page 6
Curated career-focused books with the intent of providing students resources as they develop their gameplan for career, college or work success after BCPS will become a mainstay in Woodlawn High School’s library. It was an idea that originated with Owings Mills High School librarian Courtney Yates who shared her plan with Mrs. Frager, WHS librarian. The career/skill planning books arrived on the last day of the 2023-2024 school year, and Ms. Frager and her volunteers could not wait to begin setting up this resource. New Career Library
field trips, career assessments/camps, and fo - cused future career planning with an eye on equipping students with skills and industry certifications that would buoy their future. Blueprint for Maryland This planning is in line with the focus of The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Blueprint “provides access to a rigorous and meaning - ful education that prepares students for success in college, career, and life. All students, re - gardless of family income, race, ethnicity, and/ or ability shall have equitable access to new curricula and college and career pathways.” At Woodlawn High School, students had more than 60 opportunities to extend their learning beyond the classroom through field trips during the 2023-2024 school year. Among many places, students visited the White House to learn about careers in the govern - ment, Quantico, VA to visit the Marine Corps Base to explore military careers, and Her - shey Park in PA to experience the manufactur - ing process for students interested in a trade.
Students also visited and met with college ad -
Ensuring studentS success All that information was catalogued in Excel files. Teachers were tasked with translating student responses into field experiences, work - shops, and speaker visits that aligned to students interests. Paid to Learn that students successfully worked at least 450 hours with a company partnering with the state of Maryland. Woodlawn High School, had 14 student apprentic - es who worked more than one thousand hours total. Continued
Students served as youth apprentices at Hunt Valley Construction, Hayes Con - struction, Phoenix Metals, and local elementary schools. Students received hands-on mentorship while earning a wage. Some students were able to continue their em - ployment after graduation.
A major pillar in the Blue - print Plan is providing stu - dents opportunities to take part in an apprenticeship. BCPS had more than 100 Apprenticeship Maryland Program (AMP) completers this year! This means
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