William H. Turner Technical Arts High School

William H. Turner Technical Arts High School, commonly referred to as Turner Tech, is a secondary technical school located at 10151 NW 19th Avenue in Miami, Florida. Turner Tech sits next to Miami Central High School. The school serves students of all of Miami and smaller amounts in Broward County. The principal of the school is Ms. Valmarie Rhoden.

History

Turner Tech was founded in 1993 and was named after Senator William H. Turner former chairperson of Miami-Dade County School Board. The school was based on the ideas of Turner and Roger C. Cuevas former Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent. Their dream was to construct a school that would provide academic and technical skills to prepare youth for the 21st Century. Turner Tech operates as a small high school with approximately 1,800 students.

Academies

Turner tech is a technical school that teaches students a few skills of different kind of jobs in the fields their Academies encounter. Turner Tech is one of the first high schools to separate each job criteria in different branches. The academies are Agriscience (AG), Academy of Information Technology and Entrepreneurship (AITE), Health, Industrial/Entertainment Technology (IET), NAF/Fannie Mae Foundation/ Academy of Finance, Public Service, Construction Management and Architectural Technology(CMAT).Students work in groups within each academy.

The academic course is integrated into the career major the student has chosen. Students chose a career academy when they enter the school during their freshman year. By successfully completing a sequence of technical courses, they gain certification(s) in one or more related careers.

All students assemble an active career portfolio, which includes examples of their individual work. Under each of the academies, students participate in a mass amount of hands-on experiences in actual workplaces and school-based interests.

For each Academy comes a different shirt and different color. The corresponding colors are:

Health: Navy Blue

Agriscience: Forest Green IET: Jade

AITE: Royal Blue

CMAT: Teal

Publice Service: Gray

Finance: Burgundy

Agriscience

The Agriscience Academy, or Ag for short, encourages students to play a role in society that deals with Agriculture such as livestock and horticulture. In the Animal Science and Services program, students handle livestock such as cattle, in order to better understand the Meat industry as well as the veterinary field of large animals. Animals included pigs, sheep, steers (a castrated bull calf) and breeding cattle. Students also attend local fairs like the Miami-Dade County Fair and the State Fair in Tampa. In order for this to be possible, the students have to join FFA or Future Farmers of America. FFA allow students to learn leadership skills and parliament procedures. Tractor driving and Speech is also part of the FFA. This part of the academy, according to students, is one of the best, the smelliest, and the most profitable.

Students spend about 3 to 10 months (including weekends, holidays, and no-school days) taking care of several SAE projects. The students exercise, bathe, and feed the animals. They also clean the animals' pens. After that, the students take the animals to local fairs. There, the students exhibit the animals to their potential using various equipments to handle the animals. Some competitions included Showmanship, Fitting and Grooming, and Market. The FFA students compete with each other and other FFA or 4H students of other agricultural schools in Florida, depending on the location of the fair. As soon as the fairs are over, the students must leave their animals because they raised the animals for meat; the animals are then sent to slaughter. Here are more information about the animals the students nurture:

Pigs Usually one of the first animals, along with lambs, that the students raise in their first year. Swine are very intelligent and very excited animals. They can range from 180 pounds to 250 pounds. The male pigs come castrated when the students purchases their hogs. Castrated male pigs are called barrows. The breed normally used are Yorkshire crosses and Hampshire crosses.

Lambs Usually one of the first animals, along with pigs, that students raise as their first SAE project. Lambs are the most vulnerable projects in the Ag. Academy. They are easily killed by dogs. Students learn to castrate male lambs, which are called wethers. They also learn to sheer the sheep, taking the wool off the animal with a pair of clippers.

Steers A castrated bull calf that ranges from the ages of 8 months to 2 years. These animals are usually given to the juniors and seniors of the program. Students can have up to two of these animals. Steers range from 850 pounds to 1250 pounds or higher. Students learn to "halterbreak" or having the animal accustom to a halter and the students themselves. Steers range in different personalities. Some like to ram and kick any student that comes near; others are either gentle or timid but easy to work with. The steers are the most costly animals. They usually cost between $500 to $1,000. Students receive their steers from Florida ranches that sell steers.

The academy also offers a veterinary assisting course. In this course, the students raise poultry, goats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. Unlike the animal science animals, these animals are not sold for market so the students that buy animals can keep them if they choose after the fair. The students compete every year at the Miami-Dade Fair in showmanship, breed i.d., fitting and grooming, and the different shows(where the animal gets a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and the best get special awards like best of breed and best in show).

Success

Turner Tech was recognized as one of America's top 10 New American High Schools in an awards course sponsored by Business Week and McGraw-Hill Educational and Professional Publishing Group in cooperation with the National Center for Research in Vocational Education and the Office of Vocations and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education. The United States Department of Education with the Big Picture Company, funded by the School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994, identified Turner Tech as one of five urban high schools on the cutting edge of education reform.

The American Federation of Teachers highlighted Turner Tech as one of five national models of school restructuring that focus on helping students reach high academic standards and prepare for good jobs. In 1999-2000, Turner Tech became one of the only 10 New Millennium High Schools in the state of Florida.

In 2006, Steve Pierre helped Turner Tech be selected as one of the winners of the Got Milk? Healthiest Student Bodies Contest. Got Milk received nearly 1,500 contest entries from schools across the country and a panel of judges selected Turner Tech as one of the top 50 Student Bodies in the nation. Turner Tech received a $1,000 grant to fund health, wellness, PE and fitness and nutrition programs.

Awards

*2006-2007- Turner Tech placed third in African-American Brain Bowl Competition
*2006-2007- Turner Tech student Edmond, Wendy won First Place at National HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)Competitions in Extemporaneous Speaking.
*2003-2004- Turner Tech student Badeau, Billy placed First at National HOSA Competition in Clinical Specialty. He was the first to Place first at nationals from Turner Tech. Wendy Edmond being the second to do so, and first to do so Sophomore Year.
*2003- Turner Tech students Alexandria, Cheryl, Tamika, and Latoya placed First, Second, Third, and Fourth place respectively at the Regional FBLA (Future Business Leaders or America) Competition in Marketing in their sophomore year.

Source

* [http://ttech.dade.k12.fl.us/about_turner.html school website]