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Year 2000
 Background
Citronelle High School is located
in rural Alabama in the town of Citronelle, where the total population is 3,000
to 4,000 residents. This is an economically depressed community that is about 30
minutes from Mobile and 3 hours from Birmingham, two major cities in the state.
The Cisco Networking Academy Program is housed in Citronelle high school and
serves 11th and 12th graders.
The Numbers
The Citronelle Networking
Academy program runs on a quarter system. Since 1999, Citronelle has held two
complete Networking Academy program courses during quarters one and two.
Combined, the two Networking Academy program sections have had a total of 26
students, of which 19, or 73%, have been girls and their retention rate has been
95%. Both the female and male students have had high retention rates; only two
students of 26 were non-completers.
How did the Citronelle Networking Academy program
successfully recruit and retain high school girls into Information Technology
(IT) classes in this small rural community?
Recruitment
Citronelle proactively recruited for its new Networking Academy program by:
- Holding a school assembly on the new Networking Academy program for
sophomore students right before registration;
- Having a further orientation on the Networking Academy program for students
that expressed an interest. Out of 180 total sophomore students, 80 signed up
for the second orientation;
- Developing a fact sheet on the Networking Academy program that was
distributed to sophomores;
- Giving a presentation on the Networking Academy program to parents on
"Parenting Day;"
- Gaining the strong support of the Principal of the school.
The Networking Academy program instructor, Vicky Crane, is a female and a
strong supporter of women in the workforce; she was recruited from industry
before becoming a Networking Academy program instructor. Ms. Crane thinks that
having a female role model talking about Cisco may have contributed to the high
percentage of female students who followed through and applied for the
program.
Prerequisites
Citronelle required
students interested in the Networking Academy program to undergo an application
process that included:
- Writing an essay on why they wanted to participate in the Networking Academy
program;
- Taking a test on the computer program Windows;
- Completing a written test on computers that the Networking Academy program
developed, including questions on such basics as how to turn on the computer.
A greater number of female students than male students followed through and
completed the application process.
Success in the Classroom
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"Try something and if it doesn't work, try again. Your job as a student is to
get it. Persist, never quit."
-Vicky Crane, Networking Academy Program Instructor,
Citronelle |
Vicky Crane the Networking Academy program instructor attributes the 95%
retention rate in the classroom to two things:
- more time for students to work through the curriculum because their school's
quarter system allows for 18 weeks in semester one and the school's block
scheduling also allows for plenty of class time and
- instilling in her students the belief that they can all be successful.
Her motto is "Try something and if it doesn't work, try again. Your job as a
student is to get it. Persist, never quit."
Contact
Vicky Crane
Citronelle Cisco
Networking Academy Program, Citronelle High School
Citronelle, Alabama
vi_crane@hotmail.com
334-866-5557
School Web site
http://technology.mcpss.com/~citronellehigh/
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