Career Academy Students Bring Home Trophy

~January 18, 2008

Career Academy students brought home third-place honors in the statewide competition “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution,” held Jan. 11 in Orlando.

The Career Academy at Central Florida Community College is a collaborative project with the Marion County School Board and Marion County Fire Rescue through the Board of County Commissioners. The program is targeted at high school seniors interested in getting a head start on college while earning their high school diploma and exploring their career goal through internships.

Twenty Career Academy students attended the competition: April Alonzo, Kayleigh Bell, Kyle Bromley, Linnett Castano, Michael Cerveny, Laura Estrada, Fawn Helton, Jami Johns, Kristen Kenyon, Lauren McCord, Cecilia McKinney, Brannon Paczolt, Sheree Saumier, Lindsey Scaggs, Celia Scott, Stephen Smith, Laura Wampler, Kyle Wardell, Kayla Wiley and Erica Wise. A group of the students also won the Unit 1 award, relating to the history and background of the Constitution. The students were accompanied by Career Academy Instructor Doug Oswald and Coordinator Jill VanWeelden.

The competition simulates a Congressional hearing in which the students testify as experts on the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Participating classes are divided into six groups of students, and each group is assigned a different Constitutional issue. The students testify before judges, attorneys and political science professors.

For information about the Career Academy, contact VanWeelden at 352-671-4781.