The Teacher Academy at Palm Beach Lakes Community High School began in August 1992. Twenty-one years later, the Academy unveils the Teacher Academy Graduate Wall of Fame, featuring the graduates who, after college, came back to Palm Beach County to take advantage of the contracts they signed at the end of their senior year in high school. The first graduating Teacher Academy class was the Class of 1996. That group came out of college in 2000; ever since that year, the Teacher Academy has been providing the county with homegrown, skilled educators. First year graduate, Kizzy Norris, who now teaches 5th grade science and social studies at Hidden Oaks Elementary School, appears on the Wall of Fame along with many other graduates from 1996 to 2009. Tera Hands, Choice Program Coordinator said, “We look forward to the Class of 2010 as they finish their degrees and make their debut in education.”
When eighth graders are considering applying to the Teacher Academy at Palm Beach Lakes, one of the “carats” dangled in front of them is the contract that gives them priority hiring after they earn an education degree from an accredited college or university. Fewer than twenty percent of college graduates obtain jobs in their fields of study. The Teacher Academy students who finish the program are the exception, the anomaly—they don’t have that job uncertainty. The proof is now finally on the wall—the Wall of Fame, that is. The graduates on display hold various titles under the umbrella of education in Palm Beach County: teacher, school psychologist, academic coach, substitute, guidance counselor, assistant principal, etc.
The Teacher Academy at Palm Beach Lakes is unique—no other school in the county has this program. All current eighth and ninth graders interested in the Teacher Academy should apply online at the following link: http://www.mypbchoiceapp.com/site.php. The deadline for applying is January 31, 2014.
The unveiling of the Wall of Fame the week of November 18-22 was in honor of American Education Week. Those featured on the wall are proud to be honored in this way. The school is in the process of locating others whose whereabouts in the county are unknown, so they can be added to the Wall of Fame as well.
Graduates can contact Tera Hands, Choice Program Coordinator, at 561-640-5014.
