Students at Central Junior High School were surveyed by school officials to learn what path they wanted to take through high school.
At Monday’s Kewanee School Board meeting, Supt. Rebecca Baney said students in sixth and seventh grades — who will be in junior high starting in the fall — were asked if they preferred the arts or business or agriculture or the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) path.
Baney said she was a bit surprised that the students were divided pretty evenly among those choices.
In high school, the students will be able to take elective courses in any of those subject areas. They also will be able to start on their chosen path with the courses they take in junior high.
Also Monday:
— The board passed a resolution honoring Kewanee High School’s music students for being Class A state champions in the Illinois High School Association’s music sweepstakes.
This was the second straight year KHS has brought home that honor, which is based on their performance in IHSA music contests.
The students all received a copy of the board resolution honoring them and shook hands with all the board members.
Also honored with a board resolution were the students in the high school’s new College and Career Pathways program. The program allows students in high school to concentrate on particular career areas in their studies.
This was the first group of students to complete the program, and the resolution honored them for “distinguishing themselves as pathfinders.”
— Baney told the board that the air conditioning system for Petersen Auditorium will have to be replaced. The “massive undertaking” of replacing the rooftop AC units will mean closing the auditorium until the work is completed, she said.
Baney said she hopes the auditorium can reopen in time to present the school’s fall play.
— The board discussed, but took no action on, the guidelines for the sale of sponsorships on the “jumbotron,” the new digital scoreboard in H.F. Brockman Gymnasium at KHS.
Details to be worked out include how many advertising spaces to allow on the board and how much to charge for each space.
One possibility is that the school combine sales of advertisements in the football programs with ads on the scoreboard.
