Students in Gainesville, Virginia schools have the opportunity to explore the professional world of early childhood education. Topics such as child development, safe and healthy environments for children, and developmentally appropriate practices that support child development are all part of the curriculum. But there is more to gain from attending school in Gainesville than just academic knowledge. Students can also take advantage of the extracurricular student organization to gain leadership experience.
The technical and professional student organization (CTSO) provides contextual instruction and student participation to help develop leadership, interpersonal, and professional skills. There are seven school districts in Gainesville, each with their own student leaders elected by their peers. For those with limited time or funding, there is also a two-year associate degree in ministerial leadership. This course is designed to meet the vocational needs of high school and college students.
It provides an opportunity to experience and appreciate dramatic literature, as well as participate in creative processes of interpretation and production. The emphasis is on skill development and theatrical opportunities that allow students to determine their personal areas of interest. In the second year, cadets begin to assume leadership positions in the unit and in various extracurricular activities. Students can also learn about publishing while helping produce the high school yearbook.
Those who have not passed the eighth grade language arts SOLs or who are two or more years below their reading level can participate in a recovery program. To be eligible for this program, students must be able to participate in the JROTC physical conditioning program, dress in the regulatory uniform, meet and maintain personal grooming standards, and have successfully completed Army JROTC I and II. In eleventh grade English, students analyze and evaluate relationships between American literature, history, and culture, including contributions from other cultures. They learn about the course material through a variety of methods and gain practical experience in analyzing, interpreting, organizing, and presenting connections they make in a broader context of the contemporary world.
Students analyze cultural and social functions as well as universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures. They are actively involved in practical activities such as graphic engineering, machining, hydraulic energy, electronics, materials testing, robotics, and computer technology. They also learn how to support any observation with paragraphs or essays while citing specific Latin and English passages. In Art & Design courses, students use appropriate vocabulary to make critical judgments about the subject and demonstrate their appreciation for various cultural influences.
They use Packet Tracer and lab exercises from previous courses as well as pen-and-paper exercises and role-playing games to develop network upgrade proposals. Students build on theory as they prepare to practice procedures in a clinical laboratory or classroom using mannequins to practice manipulation skills. The objective is to provide students with a solid foundation in precalculus topics such as functions and trigonometry. They further expand their studies of probability and statistics while beginning their calculus studies by exploring derivatives and integrals.