ACEL job shadows City Hall
December 8, 2011- Today 20 freshmen, sophomores and juniors from ACEL-Fresno spent over four hours touring, job shadowing, and experiencing life at Fresno’s City Hall as part of a partnership with Junior Achievement.
“Today was a fantastic experience for our students and a great opportunity to learn a lot more about how their city is managed on a day-to-day basis,” said ACEL-Fresno Executive Director Dave Childers. “We are deeply indebted to Junior Achievement for making the arrangements, and to all of the wonderful people at City Hall that allowed their day to be disrupted for the benefit of the city’s future leaders.”
The day began with an extensive tour of the facility that included several interesting history lessons about the city and the building. Then students were able to meet face to face with various department heads and city leaders, and were even afforded the opportunity to ask questions.
“It was really cool to see how everyone works together to run the city and make it better,” said Jorge, a junior at ACEL. “It was a very interesting day, and it was cool to see everything from the inside.”
Students also got to spend some time observing the City Council Meeting, and received a warm welcome from Fresno City Council President Lee Brand and his colleagues. Another highlight for students came when Patrick Wiemiller, the City’s Director of Public Works, took a few of the students behind the doors of the Mayor’s Office to take a photograph with Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin.
“From start to finish, the students were greeted with enthusiasm and passion,” said Childers. “It was quite a learning experience, and one that I wish all students were able to experience. Our city leaders have challenging and often-times thankless jobs, and I think our group walked way with an entirely new appreciation for everyone connected to the City of Fresno.”
Students from ACEL-Fresno take a moment to be photographed in the Executive Offices at the City of Fresno.
ACEL-Fresno Fully Accredited by WASC
ACEL-Fresno is proud to announce that is has received full accreditation status from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (more commonly known as WASC), the premier accrediting agency for schools in California.
“We were honored to have the Executive Director of WASC, Dr. David Brown, conduct our follow-up visit himself. Dr. Brown was extremely complimentary of our program, and we are proud that he has decided to upgrade our candidacy status to full accreditation moving forward,” said Executive Director/Principal Dave Childers.
The accreditation means that ACEL-Fresno will have three years before conducting a self-study and having a team from WASC revisit to renew its status.
“This is extremely important, as it ensures that our graduates will be recognized in the same exact manner as graduates from any other accredited high school. Our first graduating class (in 2013) will have full and complete access to all options after high school, so we are very excited.”
