Mayor touts new 4C Academy at Economic Development Forum

ALBANY — Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard has gone all in on the soon-to-be-opened Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy (4C Academy), holding an Economic Development Forum Tuesday focusing on the the new facility.

“When I was first elected mayor in 2011, one of the major issues people wanted to talk about was education,” Hubbard said. “Now I have no authority in regard to education, but we are fortunate to have the 4C Academy in our community.”

Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker, Dougherty County School Superintendent Butch Mosley, 4C Academy CEO Chris Hatcher and academy Principal Angie Garner comprised the panel for the forum.

Hatcher explained the typical day for a 4C Academy student.

Students enrolled at the 4CA will spend half a day at their zoned schools and another half at the academy, Hatcher said. There will be two groups of students, including a morning group that will take a pathway course as well as an academic course. The morning group will leave, and another group will come to the academy in the afternoon. The schedule also calls for two 90-minute blocks each for the different groups.

Gardner said she expects 450 ninth- and 10th-graders to arrive in August, with the students choosing a career or academic pathway track as ninth-graders. Some examples of the pathway courses are information technology and health care.

The idea is to expose the students to different career options at earlier ages. Non-MOWR students will have science and math classes in the second block to help them get ready for the program.

“Our College and Career Academy keeps us moving in the right direction,” Parker said. “The opportunity is there, and almost every community in Georgia is working on getting its own college and career academy. It is moving along nicely, and I am happy to see the demand for seats is high.”

The first attempt at forming a college and career academy was nixed by the Dougherty County School System Board of Education in 2012. When Mosely was hired a year later, things started to change.

“When I came here four and a half years ago, one of my first marching orders from the board was to get the college and career academy back on track,” Mosely said. “Once we decided to move forward with the project, we knew leadership was the key to making it work. Chris and Angie went through an extensive interview process, and I feel we have the best people for the job.”

Hatcher said the group has learned much from observations gleaned from other college and career academies throughout the state, adding the 4C Academy’s pathway program, along with hard and soft skills, will form the foundation of the program.

Hatcher said the academy initially will offer 14 pathways among 10 career clusters.

“When the students finish eighth grade, they have to choose a pathway now,” Hatcher said. “The neat thing about this is the entire first semester in the academy will be a pathway exploration period, so they will have a chance to look at all of our pathways before making their choice. They will hear from industry professionals, about careers and salaries in that pathway to provide these students with information and feedback so they can start along the pathway they choose in the second semester.

“Soft skills are so important, every class will have a soft skill element to it.”

Soft skills involve critical thinking skills, teamwork, work ethics and communications.

The 4C Academy is a joint venture between the Dougherty County School System, Albany Technical College, Albany State University and the area business community. Other school system partners include the Baker County School System, the Calhoun County School System and the Terrell County School System.

The academy’s purpose is to broaden learning opportunities for students by creating a unique learning environment that bridges local public education institutions with work force demands.