Starting in September, the Bridgehampton School District will offer its students a slate of new courses designed to boost academic rigor and prepare them for future careers. Its school board approved the curriculum offerings in January, and teachers and guidance counselors have already been talking them up, getting the kids excited for what’s in store.
“This is student-interest-generated and parent-generated,” Mary Kelly, Bridgehampton’s superintendent, said in an interview. “These are courses that are aligned with the ‘four Cs,’ which is our focus: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.”
Bridgehampton will adopt the Advanced Placement Capstone program, phasing it in over the next two years with a handful of new subjects — including A.P. Research, A.P. Seminar, and classes in world history and human geography — to go with its existing lineup of A.P. courses in English, math, and the sciences.
A.P. classes culminate in a rigorous, university-level final exam that can qualify a student to receive college credit with a certain score.
Through a partnership with the New York Institute of Technology, Dilangani Dilrukshi, a Bridgehampton technology teacher, developed a program in multimedia production, covering skills needed for employment in the film and television industry as well as careers in the virtual reality and artificial intelligence fields. Students can receive up to nine college credits this way.
Ms. Dilrukshi attended a career and technical high school herself, then taught at one in New York City for 11 years before coming to Bridgehampton. “I have seen the opportunities that it opened up in my life, and I plan to do the same for the students here,” she said. “Looking at the student interest as well as what the industry wants, we’re coming up with a program that fulfills the needs.”
Also, the school’s previously established agricultural program will be augmented to include hydroponics and aquaculture through a partnership with the State University at Cobleskill. Students will have a chance to earn three college credits and a career-readiness designation on their high school diplomas. “It’s an interest that kids have, being out on the East End surrounded by water. It made sense to pursue that,” Ms. Kelly said.
The new programs are expected to be cost-neutral in the staffing department, making use of teachers already employed at Bridgehampton, she said. The A.P. Capstone program will ultimately replace the existing honors track.
“It’s all about responding to the interests and needs of the kids,” she said, “and helping them to prepare for college and careers beyond their time at Bridgehampton.”