Lt. Gov. Kottkamp visits lauded school

Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottcamp talks to Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Browder during his visit to the automotive academy at South Fort Myers High.

A visit from Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottcamp and a $30,000 check.

That's what students at South Fort Myers High School received recently in honor of being awarded the Leadership Level Career Academy Innovation award from the Ford Motor Company Fund.

The fund awards schools whose communities show a strong support for career schools that prepare students for life after high school.

"They spend their time really beginning to see what the career academy's have to offer and then they see what they'd like to do," said Cheryl Carrier, the program director, 21st Century Education Programs for the Ford Motor Company Fund.

Carrier is in charge of selecting the schools that will receive the distinction and the money, which is used to help create a network of schools aimed at developing students' careers.

Although the school isn't sure what it will do with the $30,000 check, Carrier said, schools generally use the money to invite experts to come in and help them expand programs.

Some schools also invite representatives from other schools to look at their models for success, Carrier said.

"It's great that Ford picked us and we are in the cutting edge of what we are supposed to do," said Kim Verblaauw, the assistant principal of curriculum at South Fort Myers High. "It's an honor and it shows that people put time into the school."

The school is strongly supported by the local business community, which frequently makes visits to the school and helps develop students' skills.

"We selected the very best communities and we were going to take these models and share them with other communities," said Carrier about the program that was started in August of 2006. "Businesses know that at the end of the day, these kids go out into the community and are ready for it."

The efforts the school makes to prepare students for the real world is what impressed Kottcamp most. He visited the school and was given a tour of the medical, criminal justice and automotive academies.

"... It provides a pathway for our students to convert their hopes and dreams with the career they will have in the real world," Kottcamp said.

"It says a whole lot that a group from out of state travels to pick this school out of thousands of schools is very impressive."

Carrier said that only two schools in Florida were chosen to receive the distinction which is the highest the fund provides.

"The school deserves it, our administration works hard to get us the best education possible," said Hermann Piard, 17, a senior at the school.

Piard was one of the students asked to tour the school with Kottcamp.

"If they want to give us $30,000 dollars then we will take it, the more tools we have the better it is for our school," Piard said.