New Tech aims for progress

New Tech Odessa has come a long way in its first year, but its principal sees areas which can still be improved.

“I’m never going to be satisfied, it’s always going to be about progress,” said Adrian Vega, New Tech Odessa principal.

The academic-based school, which opened its doors in August, currently has 220 students, freshmen and sophomores only, and 12 teachers. For the past several weeks, Vega said he has been going around to the junior highs to talk about the school and encourage interested students to come to Ratliff to enroll. The program will grow each year with the students, moving the sophomores up to juniors next year and adding up to 120 freshmen.

Vega said the year has been a good learning experience, but there are still challenges with students adjusting to the entirely different learning style.

“A lot of kids realize that this isn’t what they thought it would be,” Vega said. “This is about work ethic and effort.”

He said he knows the students will struggle in the beginning with the program because it’s so different than what they are used to.

Vega said students currently enrolled had to commit to the program for at least a year, adding that parents had to sign a paper at the beginning of the year saying they are committing to at least one year if they enroll at New Tech Odessa. He said the same will be true for next year’s freshmen.

“I know we’re going to lose some kids at the end of the tear,” he said. “On the flip side, we have kids who are thriving.”

 
THE STUDENTS AND THE PLAN
Esgar Galindo, a freshman at the school, said he was getting by at Hood Junior High with C’s and did not enjoy school.

“I decided to come here because I wanted to try something different,” Galindo said.

Now, Galindo said he is getting mostly A’s and B’s and enjoys the trust his teachers give him.

“To me it’s a huge difference,” Esgar said. “It’s challenging, but a good challenge.”

Vega said students at New Tech Odessa all have their own Mac notebook computer. Additionally, every room has a smart board and projector. Vega said students have to be accountable and responsible for themselves in order to attend the school.

“Technology is issued as a tool,” Vega said. “Technology is used seamlessly in everything we do.”

Vega said the school is geared toward preparing students for college and the main focus is academics. The school does not have an athletics or fine-arts program; however, students are able to participate in programs if they are at the beginning or end of the day through Permian or Odessa high schools.

“Everything we do is focused on getting ready for college,” Vega said.

Vega said all of the school’s core courses are pre-advanced placement courses and next year the program will add advanced placement courses for juniors. He said the social studies and English classes are also integrated; lessons taught together in the same class with two teachers.

Aziza Fuentes, sophomore at New Tech Odessa, said she was working on a group project in her world studies class that explored essays people wrote about what they believe.

The students plan to write their own essay and tie it back to similarities philosophers in history had when talking about important views they expressed. This incorporates both English and history in the world studies course.

Rene Barrientes, history teacher in world studies at New Tech, said it makes sense to incorporate the two subjects.

“It relates to the same subject matter,” Barrientes said.

Sophomore Kendra Camarena had been at Bowie Junior High.

“(At New Tech Odessa) it’s better because teachers pay attention to you more,” Camarena said.

 
THE NEW TECH NETWORK
Vega said the students do all of their work in groups to help cultivate 21st century learning. Additionally, one of the main keys with New Tech schools is learning through Project Based Learning.

“They know how to work with others,” Vega said.

Krista Clark, director of communications for the New Tech Network based in California, said Project Based Learning is incorporated at all of the schools in the New Tech Network, which is a subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks. There are currently 86 New Tech schools in the nation with another 30 to 40 coming next year.

The program’s startup costs vary in each school, but New Tech Odessa cost about $1.8 million, including improvements to the former Career Center building in ECISD, according to a previous article in the Odessa American.

The building currently houses both New Tech Odessa and 20 classes of 337 students of the district’s Career and Technical Education elective programs.

Clark said this program gets away from the lecture and test format some teachers use in traditional class settings. She said New Tech schools also follow state standards.

“You really need to change the culture of the school before change is made,” Clark said.

 
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TEACHING
Jason Pierce, digital portfolio teacher at New Tech Odessa, said he did his student teaching in a New Tech school in Abilene, and moved to Odessa when he heard a New Tech campus was opening here. On Thursday, his class occupied the school’s lecture hall to present projects and after each project the students had ask questions about the research.

“They’re so involved that they don’t even realize they’re learning,” Pierce said, after several students questions numerous points in one group’s project.

Brittany Chorney, freshman at New Tech Odessa, came to the campus from Nimitz Junior High. She said she enjoys the work for the most part.

“We talk a lot to each other,” Chorney said. “It’s very different from junior high. We just read books (there), here we work on stuff.”

Chorney worked in one of the schools common areas on Thursday to create a flag of Brazil on the area’s smart board, while her peers next to her were tracing the shape of Mexico onto butcher paper from the area’s projector.

Yuribel Ramirez, freshman at the school, said she originally wanted to come to the school because she heard it was more hands on. She said New Tech Odessa has been a more interesting way to help her learn.

“We get to work with one another, not just sit in a desk and read a book,” she said.

@OAschools