BOURNE — Bourne High School was recently awarded a significant grant from the Baker-Polito Administration’s Capital Skills Grant to bolster its Innovation Pathways programs and expand academic opportunities for students to excel in their future careers.
Bourne High School was awarded $150,000 as part of the latest round of funding, which was announced at an event at Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School in Danvers on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The funding will allow the school to obtain equipment that will benefit its Business and Finance and Environmental and Life Sciences Innovation Pathways. With the use of the grant funds, Bourne High School will obtain four additional iMac computers for the graphics lab, a stock market ticketer for the development of their new Finance Lab, and two virtual dissection tables.
The equipment will also benefit the high school’s future Health Sciences Innovation Pathway.
As part of an initiative by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Innovation Pathways are designed to provide students with coursework and experience in specific high-demand industries.
“This grant will allow us to better prepare our students for their future professions by allowing them the opportunity to have hands-on experience with modern industry equipment and technology,” Superintendent Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou said. “On behalf of Bourne Public Schools, I would like to express my gratitude towards the Baker-Polito Administration for this generous grant and their continued support of our students here in Bourne.”
Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito were at Essex Tech for the announcement by current and former members of the Workforce Skills Cabinet.
The programs receiving grants will make strategic investments during the next two years to grow their career technical education programs to provide more learning opportunities for both traditional high school students and adult learners. Over the next five years, these grant awards will directly impact approximately 10,000 students across 38 programs.
Since 2015, 538 Skills Capital Grants totaling more than $200 million have been awarded to schools and educational institutions across the Commonwealth, with many organizations receiving multiple grants over the years. This is now the third Capital Skills Grant awarded to the district, with the first two being $75,000 each. The competitive grants are awarded to educational institutions, like Bourne Public Schools, that demonstrate partnerships with local businesses, as well as align curriculum and credentials with industry demand to maximize hiring opportunities.
“We put $200 million to work, and it has truly been a transformational partnership with the educational institutions, and it is something we are enormously proud of,” Gov. Baker said.
“To have this experiential learning, to not just read about it, study about it, take a test, but to get up in the trees, to nail those nails into the wood, it’s transformational and eye-opening,” said Rosalin Acosta, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development.
The Skills Capital Grants are awarded by Governor Baker’s Workforce Skills Cabinet, which was created in 2015 to bring together the Secretariats of Education, Labor and Workforce Development, and Housing and Economic Development to align education, economic development, and workforce policies to strategize around how to meet employers’ demand for skilled workers in every region of the Commonwealth.
For more information on the Skills Capital Grant program, click here.
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