ATHOL – During a February visit to Athol High School, Gov. Maura Healey announced that AHS would be receiving $65,000 to expand the options available to students interested in the school’s Innovative Career Pathway program. About three dozen students are already enrolled in the manufacturing program, which currently includes classes in precision measuring instruments and robotics.

Earlier this month, the Healey administration officially awarded Athol High the Innovative Career Pathway designation for a second time in order to implement an “information” instructional program. School principal David King said that the money targeted to AHS in February will fund instruction in the new program.

“We applied for our second Pathway designation earlier in the school year,” said King. “So, we now have two Pathways, advanced manufacturing and information.”

Athol High has established a partnership with L.S. Starrett to provide input and guidance for the manufacturing program. At this point, said King, any partnership with another private sector business or organization relative to the new program not yet been worked out.

“The designation of ‘information’ is broad for a reason,” said Tom Shamgochian, the school’s College & Career Readiness Coordinator. “So, it’ll definitely be IT, so information technology will definitely be a big piece of it, but the designation is definitely broad for a reason. That way we can get as many students involved as we possibly can.

“There will be a journalism piece, there will be a computer programming piece. There may be a cybersecurity piece,” said Shamgochian. “It’s really based on the interest of the students. They have to take what we consider to be 12 credits, or four classes, in a specific area. But it allows us to have some variety in what is offered.”

“The general structure of the Career Pathway is that the students need to take four content area courses here at the high school level,” King added, “that are specifically taught by our high school teachers in those courses, such as a computer programming course, such as a cybersecurity course, possibly a journalism course. In addition, they have to take some advanced level courses as well. Once they complete the coursework, we try to find them a community partner where they’ll be able to go out and actually be able to put some of those skills to work in a workplace setting.

“Our vision,” King continued, “is that junior year they might go shadow something, whether it’s junior year, second semester, maybe it’s in the summer. They’re going to be able to make a connection with a company. Then, second semester, senior year, they’re either doing a capstone project or they’re actually out in the workforce learning hands-on in that field. So, we could continue to partner with L.S. Starrett in some of their computer software program opportunities. We could partner with (Athol Hospital) if they have cybersecurity needs or things like that. We could partner with the Athol Daily News if students are interested in being a journalist.”

What it comes down to, King said, is that the Innovative Career Pathway program assists students in making connections in their field of interest and expanding their opportunities.

“It will open up a lot of new doors for our students,” Shamgochian added.

King said that earning the Innovative Career Pathway designation is “somewhat competitive.” The state said a high school needs to show the state it has all of the elements necessary to make the program work.

“I think the state is definitely looking for traditional schools,” said King, “traditional schools like Athol High School, Murdock, that want to adopt these programs that support students in a different way than we have been. If a school does the work, puts the time in, and develops a structure and a system for it to be successful then the school will get it.”

King said the program requires adjustments to be made within the traditional educational framework to make it work for the students.

“Realistically, what we’re trying to do is give our students a better experience and more connection to what they actually see themselves doing later on in their lives,” he said. “We’re a traditional high school, but we’re trying to break out of that box that every student has kind of been put in in all the years leading up to this, and make it more about an experience that they see as valuable. Then they’re more engaged and they’re more likely to stay in school and be successful.”

The new information program will begin instruction in the 2025-2026 school year.

A state annoucement about the schools that have earned the Innovative Career Pathway designation said, “there will be over 8,500 students enrolled in one or more of the 262 Innovation Career Pathways in 117 high schools. Today’s announcement builds on the $1,387,000 the administration awarded over the past year to 51 school districts through planning and implementation grants.”