New initiative helps middle school students explore interests, prepares them to choose high school
October 20, 2021
–Maryam Fadhil was initially concerned when she started sixth grade at Ramsey Middle School, wondering if she would make new friends or like her teachers or classes.
Little did she know she would discover her passion.
Now in eighth grade, Maryam has uncovered her talent for business and marketing thanks to the Explore Academy, a middle school initiative in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) to help students explore different fields and topics to better prepare them to choose a high school.
“Through this program I’m proud to call myself an entrepreneur,” she said, adding she hopes to launch a new product, Scent Fantasy – “an affordable yet luxurious bath and body line” – in the near future.
Click here to watch the Explore Academy announcement!
The Explore Academies are “an answer to a new way of doing middle school,” said Ramsey Principal Terra Greenwell, adding the program allows for students to discover their aptitudes and interests early on while becoming engaged academically.
“You walk into these classrooms in the Explore program, and you see a different type of learning,” said JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio, citing the importance of initiatives that connect with students. “That’s the model of education that we have to have – where we are engaging students in something that they love.”
The program was piloted in 2020-21, but this is the first full formalized year for the initiative. Explore Academies currently operate in six JCPS middle schools: Ramsey, Farnsley, Conway, Western, Westport and Grace James Academy of Excellence.
Students choose from six topic areas: Leading and Developing; Caring and Discovering; Designing and Communicating, Growing and Nurturing; Building and Creating; and Serving and Protecting, exposing them to broad areas to help them identify a high school with programs that best fit their interests.
As part of the initiative, all sixth-grade students participate in activities and lessons in each of their school’s Explore Academies. Students choose an academy to focus on in seventh grade and eighth grade, although they have the option to change that selection at a later time.
Unlike the high-school based Academies of Louisville programs, which prepare the older students for career pathways, students in the middle school initiative do not choose a career path. Instead, they get to explore topics in far-reaching areas, at a time when they are starting to see themselves as unique individuals with particular talents and interests.
“They are starting to find their place in the world so the focus is on giving them opportunities to explore their strengths and interests,” said Jessica Rosenthal, JCPS executive administrator for middle schools. “By the time they leave middle school, they will have had the opportunity to explore many ways of making a difference in the world.”
For her part, the Explore Academy helped Maryam find and hone skills, like public speaking, that will benefit her in the future while helping her see beyond high school.
“I know I have a bright future ahead of me,” she said. “I look forward to seeing all of you – and no, doubt, you’ll all be seeing me as CEO in the future.”