Founded in 1975, Coral Springs High School always has the bragging rights to being the first high school in northwest Broward County.
Being first isn’t enough when your goal is to be the best, so the Colts are always looking for ways to innovate, new programs to add, new options to get kids motivated to come to school.
For example, the school just added a step dance team to its menu.
“We have not just the academic, not just the athletic, but the artistic and extracurricular activities, again, something for everyone,” said principal Vivian Suarez.
From marching band to chorus to visual arts, Coral Springs is one of those large community high schools which is adapting to the tech age by seizing that bull with two hands. They’ve invested $70,000 in a computer gaming class.
“This class is extraordinarily popular, every seat of every period is always full,” said the teacher Jason Freedman.
The students are learning video game design at the college level in high school, and also the skills to launch them into any computer science field.
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“And this is the class for those kids that live and sleep and eat and dream video games, but also those that are artistic and want to be able to create 3D games in 3D environments,” Freedman said.
The culinary program here just won an award as the best in Broward County Public Schools.
“It’s a very big deal because our district is pretty big and I have the next students ever, they’re the reason we’re number one, our students,” said chef Aruna Lien, the program’s director.
The course isn’t just a vocational training ground. It prepares students for college hospitality and culinary management programs. It also works in tandem with the agriscience class to provide a farm-to-table experience. They grow veggies, the chickens lay eggs, and it’s all cooked in the student kitchen. Some of the students take it as a dual-enrollment credit.
“Students can take up to 12 dual enrollment courses, that’s almost your associate’s degree when you graduate and that, for parents, is a bonus because you don’t have to pay for those classes,” Suarez explained.
The school also added a HOSA course. It trains students for careers as EMT’s or as medical assistants.
All this is in addition, of course, to all the traditional AP classes offered at the school.
So the Colts of Coral Springs High School have some serious horsepower.
