The Future is in Their Hands

It's clearly ambitious--Horne compares the transition to "herding elephants with a toothbrush"--but teachers and school officials say they're excited to try something new. "I've been teaching 38 years, 32 at Scotland High," says Connie McCrommen, who will teach theater in the visual- and performing-arts school. "I think this is a really good idea. It's going to give us more contact with the kids." Students in the first two academies say the focus on careers kept them engaged. Senior Cortelia Jefferson, 18, was in the school of health sciences, and next year she's headed for Fayetteville State University, where she'll prepare for a career in nursing or some other health-related field. "It has given me lots of opportunities," she says.

Whether North Carolina's effort will indeed make the state a player on the global stage depends on how well schools like Guilford and Scotland succeed in their new mission. "Like every other state," says Vander Ark, "North Carolina has a lot of work to do." But when you're competing with China and India, failure is not an option.

With Pat Wingert

© 2006