Rancho plans magnet programs

Teresa Hinds

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Rancho High School unveiled its two new magnet programs in grand style.

About 2,700 students from Rancho and nearby elementary and middle schools filled the football stadium bleachers Wednesday to learn about the Academy of Aerospace and Aviation and Academy of Medical and Allied Health Professions magnet programs. Both are slated to open at the start of the 1997-98 school year.

After the short orientation, students spent the next hour exploring numerous medical and aviation displays, including emergency medical vehicles, high-tech police vehicles, a small private airplane and an Air Force Blackhawk helicopter.

Roger Jacks, head of the magnet programs at Rancho, said the Academy of Aerospace and Aviation will enable students to receive a private pilot license, receive aerospace engineering instruction and learn about flight attendant and systems reservations careers.

The Academy of Medical and Allied Health Professions will concentrate on pre-med, sports medicine and allied health professions, such as medical assistant, emergency medical technician and medical transcription.

"Everything about the magnet programs is a three-phase approach," Jacks said. "No. 1, we will prepare students academically for the next step educationally. No. 2, we will give them hands-on experience, an opportunity to see if that's what they really want to do with their lives.

"And No. 3 is to provide a link to higher education. We're already working with the UNLV sports medicine program, with the University of Nevada School of Medicine and with the Community College of Southern Nevada's allied health programs."

Jacks said the hope is that when Rancho magnet students graduate, the colleges and universities "will be looking for them and hopefully will offer them scholarships to attend their schools."

Eligibility for entrance into most programs will be restricted to next year's freshmen and sophomores.

Freshman J.R. Hall, 14, is excited about applying to the aerospace and aviation academy.

"I think it's a good opportunity to learn about aircraft and support our military," the Air Force Junior ROTC member said. He's also looking forward to the new technology he wants to be exposed to in the program.

Cynthia Speer, a 17-year-old senior, is envious of the opportunities students will have after she graduates.

"I'm really jealous of everything they're going to get to do," the top-rated Rancho tennis player said. "It's going to be so good next year. The freshmen are going to have excellent opportunities they normally wouldn't have had."

Students from Bracken elementary, Hoggard magnet and Smith, Von Tobel and Bridger middle schools also attended the orientation.

The strategy for inviting younger students to the event, said Jacks, was to get them excited about the possibilities of education.

"If this gets them excited about school and staying in school, then that's a good thing," Jacks said. "The teachers can go back to the classroom and relate to students what they saw here today and help them learn about that career."

After a group of Hoggard fifth-graders explored the Air Force Blackhawk helicopter, one of the most popular exhibits of the day, and an ambulance, they were unanimous in their decision to attend the magnet school.

Eleven-year-old Drew Peterson said he wanted to attend the magnet because, "I want to be a helicopter driver."

So does Liam Flanagan, also 11-years-old. "When I grow up I'm going to fly a 'hawk and I want to carry one of those," he said as he pointed to a nearby missile display.

Shetila Taylor, 10, is hoping she will someday be able to enroll in the Academy of Medical and Allied Health Professions. "I want to be an ambulance driver because I like to help people," she said.

Eleven-year-old Christian Lee was disappointed because his career field wasn't represented at Tuesday's display. "Five generations of men in my family have been car engineers, and that's what I'm going to be," the fifth-grader said.

Teacher Peter Rost, a former podiatrist, predicted the Rancho magnet program "is going to be great. The way this is set up, it's going to be the best in the nation. We're going to have people coming to look at us in four or five years."