West Florida High School of Advanced Technology is a magnet high school located in Pensacola, Florida. It is part of the Escambia County School District.
West Florida High School of Advanced Technology opened in August 2001 with 325 ninth graders. Today, the current enrollment is 1,253 students, ninth through twelfth grade.
Technical fields
- Academy of Information Technology (AOIT)
- Aerospace Engineering
- Agricultural Biotechnology
- Biomedical Sciences
- Civil Engineering and Architecture
- Cox Telecommunications Academy
- Criminal Justice
- Drafting and Design Technology
- Emergency Medicine/Fire Rescue Services
- Gulf Power Academy
- Multimedia Academy
- Pre-Professional Nursing
- Sports Medicine
Though previously on block scheduling, beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the school switched to seven periods a day. In the 2009-2010 school year, the school switched back to block scheduling, which remains the scheduling method today.
There are many mentoring and job shadowing programs, including the A.C.E. program, which allows students to get on the job training while getting paid by participating in internships in place of electives.
In the 2007-2008 year, West Florida announced its "C.I.M." (Continuous Improvement Model) program. It dedicated 10 minutes every day to FCAT Prep and reinforcing prior knowledge. This was discontinued in the 2009-2010 school year, when they changed C.I.M. to a ten-minute snack break, as students were too hungry due to the late 'D' lunch, which begins at 1:24.
Previous technical fields
- Automotive (2001â€"2008)
- Automotive Repair (2001â€"2008)
- CISCO (200X/0Xâ€"2007/08)
- Pre-Engineering (200X/0X-200X/0X)
- Veterinary (200X/0Xâ€"2007/08)
- Legal Services (200x/0x - 2012/2013
Capstone
Each student completes a Capstone projectâ€"a display of comprehension and mastery of a given field - that focuses on a field-related topic. A student's technical courses, junior and senior year English courses, and T.E.C.H. courses are involved in its completion.
The project is separated into three parts:
- technical paper (eleventh grade)
- product or project-related community service (11th and 12th grades)
- presentation with visual aides (twelfth grade)
If a mean grade of 60% or above is earned, a student is presented with a technical certificate (or available equivalent) upon graduation.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the school changed their Capstone system with a major revision. This is now called "Capstone 2.0". Students complete it during the 11th grade year only, and it consists of a small proposal paper, an established timeline, and the final product.
Athletics
West Florida High provides many sports such as football, volleyball, baseball, cheerleading, softball, cross-country, track and field, basketball, soccer, swimming, weightlifting, tennis and golf. With the first new sport addition in the last few years, lacrosse has been made an official sport for both boys and girls in the 2014-2015 school year.
The West Florida softball team brought the school its first team state championship in the 2013â€"2014 year, with senior standout pitcher Korina Rosario leading the way.
In the 2011 - 2012 year, the Jaguars Freshman football team went 9-1, claiming the district championship.
The 2013 - 2014 team fell just short of another district championship. After being ranked No. 1 in the state for a few weeks to start the season, the team lost to the then No. 2 ranked Catholic High. They still made the playoffs, but they were thwarted by Catholic again with an overtime loss in the second round of the playoffs. They did beat Tallahassee Godby in the first round, which was a major accomplishment considering the fact that Godby had knocked them out of the playoffs the previous two years. In the 2016 - 2017 school year, the Freshman and Junior Varsity football teams went undefeated, along with a 6-2 record for Varsity.
Girls' soccer has also won consecutive district titles in 2012 and 2013.
Arts and other activities
WFHS also added a marching band for the 2010-2011 school year. Known as the Sound of the Jags, they are now led by Peter Krostag.
During 2007â€"2008, in only its ninth year in existence, WFHS served as the President school of the Florida Association of Student Councils. Since then, the Student Government Association has earned a Gold Medallion every year. The organization's main project for 2016â€"2017 involves a local nursing home, Bayside Manor. All SGA members volunteer there for four hours per nine weeks.
References
External links
- Official website