EDUCATION
Revamped Marietta High School to
offer college and career pathways
The new J Hall, with classrooms for game design, at the revamped Marietta High School in August 2020. - Ryan Kolakowski
FACTBOOK 2021 109
By Ryan Kolakowski
rkolakowski@mdjonline.com
Marietta High School’s new
college and career academy is
set to provide opportunities
in technology, health care and
other career pathways during
the 2020-2021 academic year.
Marietta City Schools built
the high school in 1999, then
repurposed the grounds over
the course of 2019 and 2020
using a grant that it won. The
school added its new three-story
“J Hall,” a $13 million
extension with classrooms for
game design and cybersecurity,
a newsroom for the newspaper
and yearbook, workshops for
drafting and architecture and
more. The district completed
the 50,000-square-foot addition
in December of 2019, and
students began using the space,
designed to appear like a college
student center, in January
of 2020.
The district then repurposed
the original high school building
to make it more suitable for
career pathway courses.
While students were away
from the school building after
mid-March 2020 due to the
coronavirus, Marietta High
School went to work on outfitting
its current campus for
new career pathway programs.
In one hallway, walls between
classrooms were knocked
down to create a long medical
wing where students can study
health care science. In another,
several rooms were connected
to accommodate new kitchen
equipment and a mock restaurant
space for culinary studies.
Marietta High School students
can study one of about 20
different career pathways, and
Principal Keith Ball said many
of those students will be able to
work in those fields right away
after graduation.
“They’ll get a certificate
if they complete (the career
pathway),” he said, “which
will allow them to go into the
industry if they want or have
prior knowledge when they go
to college.”
In the health care pathway,
students can study to be nursing
assistants, athletic trainers,
emergency medical technicians
or other health professionals.
Ball said students can specialize
their high school education
at Marietta.
In the culinary pathway,
students will get front-of-store
and kitchen experience, much
like they would in a typical
restaurant.
“We’ll teach them how to run
a restaurant,” Ball said. “We’ll
teach them how to cook the
food. We’ll teach them how to
prepare the food, and then all
the sanitizing and cleaning that
goes with it.”
The new culinary space
features a walk-in fridge and
freezer “that cost more than my
house,” Ball said.
Students can also study audio
and video, architecture, construction,
computer science,
entrepreneurship and more.
Ball said the school brought in
specialized staff for the growing
career pathways.
Marietta High School’s
revamped campus also offers
spaces for work-based learning,
career advising and college
advising. The school has two
college advisers who previously
worked in college admissions.
In addition to the new
career pathways, students
have access to Advanced
Placement and International
Baccalaureate classes.
“It just gives them more
choices,” Ball said, “which
is slightly overwhelming…
With 2,700 kids, they have
2,700 different opinions, likes
and interests.”
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