If schools were actors, Booker T. Washington High School would be typecast as the star athlete. Its football team has won multiple state championships, including one just last week. However, football doesn't define Booker T.
"I think football is part of our school culture but we're clearly academics first," said Principal William Aristide.
The school has two strong magnet programs. Its engineering academy is a hands-on environment in which students learn the concepts of static and dynamic engineering by building things.
"Our senior class right now is working on trying to create a prosthetic eye that actually works," said Paul Lasseur, one of the engineering teachers. "What they try to do here in the engineering courses really helps them to make connections between what they're learning in science classes and in their math classes, you see the light bulb come on when they understand why we do things a certain way."
The engineering kids build, design and program several types of robots for competitions. They're also learning computer coding, and they’re designing and testing model cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
"When I came here I thought, I'm gonna be able to do a lot of cool things, I'm gonna be able to build machines, be able to do some programming," said freshman Jeremy Gay, who is doing all of those things.
The students learn how to diagnose and solve problems. In other words, engineering teaches them how to think critically.
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"It also brings in leadership, teamwork and communication," said Tiffany Ortiz, a student in the engineering academy.
"We're gonna push them to the highest point. We are gonna push them so they can eventually reach the stars," said Aristide.
At Booker T. that's not just a slogan, it's a reality. The school has a magnet program in astronomy, complete with a fully-functioning, out-of-this-world planetarium. It's an amazing teaching tool, but the program also brings in speakers from NASA and teachers work with local astronomy clubs to hold stargazer nights, using donated telescopes.
Astronomy is being used here as the vehicle to teach all kinds of science.
"Exposure is everything, so we want to really expose the students to all of the different fields, all of the different horizons and from there a career is born," said Shaakira Hardy, the school's planetarium director.
Now is the time to consider a magnet program for your child. South Florida's public school districts offer dozens of choices. The deadline for Miami-Dade Schools is Jan. 15. In Broward you have more time, the deadline is Feb. 10.
