Tomorrow morning, a fleet of yellow school buses will shuttle thousands of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) students to elementary, middle and high schools all over the city for the first day of the 2012-2013 school year. Whether it's the first day of kindergarten, the first day of senior year or somewhere in between, the Chamber's goal of 100 percent success for all students remains the same.
The Academies of Nashville were implemented in Metro's 12 zoned high schools with the goal of preparing every graduate for higher education and entry into the workforce. Representatives from more than 100 area companies volunteer their time on the Academies of Nashville Partnership Councils to help guide the work of the academies and ensure they are maintaining a concentration on college and career readiness. The Academies of Nashville Partnership Councils serve all academies by grouping them in five industry-related areas: Arts, Media & Communications; Business, Marketing & Information Technology; Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrial Technology; Health & Public Services; Hospitality & Tourism.
Over the past two weeks, the Chamber convened meetings for the five Academies of Nashville Partnership Councils. Top agenda items included:
- The 2012 "My Future, My Way" Freshman Career Exploration Fair is set for Wednesday, October 24. Each Partnership Council will discuss plans for the career fair at their next meetings.
- We are continuing to work on tracking school district and community investment data to better illustrate improvement in our schools.
- In order to better support the work of all the Academies of Nashville Partnership Councils, we have folded the Human & Public Services Council members and academies into the Health Partnership Council to form a new Health & Public Services Partnership Council for the 2012-2013 school year. The Teaching and Service pathways will be supported by a new committee to be created later this year.
- The Arts, Media & Communications Partnership Council met at Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School and enjoyed a tour of the school.
- The Business, Marketing & Information Technology and the Health & Public Services Partnership Councils met at the Boy Scouts of Middle Tennessee office.
- The Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrial Technology Partnership Council met at Maplewood High School.
- The Hospitality & Tourism Partnership Council met at the Hutton Hotel.
Thanks to our Partnership Council chairs for their service to the Academies of Nashville for the 2012-2013 school year:
Arts, Media & Communications -
Lucia Folk, CMT
Business, Marketing & Information Technology -
Chris Schlueter, Avenue Bank
Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrial Technology -
Tara Myers, ESA
Engineering, Manufacturing & Industrial Technology -
Sandee Tishler, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and
Sheila Calloway, Juvenile Court
Hospitality & Tourism -
Andrea Arnold, Nashville Convention Center
With support from our community partners, the Chamber's
ONE NASHVILLE initiative is also looking forward to the beginning of the new school year. We will share updates in the coming months about what you can do to get involved in the success of Nashville's students.
Members of the Hospitality & Tourism Partnership Council met July 25 at the Hutton Hotel. Click here to see more photos from the meetings.