Westfield Vocational-Technical High School Principal Stefan Czaporowski addresses the 114 seniors during a graduation ceremony at Billy Bullens Field, June 5. (Photo by Frederick Gore/www.thewestfieldnews.smugmug.com)
WESTFIELD – The science requirement credits needed to graduate from Westfield Vocational Technical High School has been bumped from 22 to 32.
The changes, accepted last night at a meeting of the Westfield School Committee, are related to the number of science credits required for students, regardless of their program or shop.
These new requirements will start in the fall when the class of 2018 begins their freshmen year at the school.
“Basically, we were at two. We went to two and a half (credits per class). That’s the only real adjustment that we made,” said WVTHS Principal Stefan Czaporowski. “We want to make sure that our kids are taking more science classes, to keep up with the MassCore and what the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recommends.”
Czaporowski added that his students already take on a four-year course load in other subjects, so the additional science credits only made sense.
“We already have four years of English, four years of math, so now they’re going to have three years of science and three years of social studies,” he said.
“It’s kind of already happening,” he said. “It’s not like we have a ton of electives, so kids that are looking to fill (a schedule) and take classes senior year end up taking a science anyway. So now we’re just giving them the credit for it.”
At last night’s meeting, Czaporowski also took the opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of Megan Ilnicky, the school’s valedictorian for the the class of 2014.
Ilnicky, who will be attending Western New England University this fall, was unable to attend last night’s meeting due to a work commitment with United Technologies. Czaporowski said that is a testament to the quality of student coming out of WVTHS.
“We fill a void,” he said. “There are jobs out there and they hire our kids.”
