New Tech Network-College and Career Readiness Spotlight 2017

February 22, 2017

At New Tech Network, our shared vision for student success – college and career readiness for all students – has a very specific meaning in the Network. What we mean is that every graduate of a New Tech school leaves aware, eligible and prepared to pursue postsecondary education or training. Join us as we highlight stories from our schools, students, parents, and partners.


Career ready

Tech Valley High School has offered students a path to college and career since opening in 2007. From freshman to senior year, students begin and end with a unique internship program that provides an authentic post-graduate experience.

The school’s mission is to provide real-world learning experiences while developing skills identified by higher education and business leaders as being crucial to the 21st-century economy. To support its mission, Tech Valley I-Term every year. It’s an independent project undertaken by all students, building in scope and complexity across four years to ultimately help students pursue college and career choices.

Read about the journey here. 

A Virtual Internship Reality

“For several years we had been trying to draw up a plan to make traditional internships logistically and financially feasible in our rural region. Professional experiences and interactions can provide students with the skill sets and mindsets that they need in order to thrive in college, a career, and in life. So, we took a risk and decided to create a virtual internship for our students,” said Keith Bardsley-District College and Career Advisor.

Learn about virtual internships at Cross County


From our schools

The New Tech Academy Awards

This is an event to honor the learning of all Belle Point Center: A New Tech Academy students (Grades 7-12). While we will be giving out large New Tech specific trophies (Oscars) to the top learners (i.e. Best Display of Group Collaboration, Best Overall Project, ect.), each student will be receiving a small trophy to celebrate their success. This a formal affair and the staff is very excited. This event includes parents, community partners and leaders. We want to make sure each student is proud of his or her successes.


From our parents

New Tech has really helped my daughter to be organized and efficient. She has been juggling project after project from various classes over the past four years, and it has taught her how to manage her time and maximize the resources that she has available to her. Additionally, through her New Tech classes, she has gotten excited about science, specifically biology. As a result, she excelled in those courses in high school, which earned her a scholarship to Arkansas State University where she will major in biology as an Honor Student this fall!

Candice Grove

Blytheville High School: A New Tech School


Student stories of success

With the Academy Awards in the spotlight this week, it seemed timely to talk to a graduate of Napa’s New Technology High, Kyle Andrews, who is on his way to becoming a filmmaker as he finishes his senior year at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Read about Kyle’s journey here.


 Let’s hear from alumni!

In 2015, President and CEO Lydia Dobyns wrote about Griffin Sinns for the Huffington Post:

I recently had the chance to talk with a graduate from one of the New Tech Network public district high schools. Griffin Sinn is a 21-year-old senior enrolled at Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington, Indiana, majoring in public financial management. He’s also an accomplished entrepreneur with five patent-pending products.

Watch Griffin’s recent video explaining the skills he valued from his New Tech education. 

Read the full post here.


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