BTECH Prepares to Welcome Students

In September, 125 freshmen will walk into the Martin Van Buren High School building. They won’t be students at Van Buren, but rather a new co-located school there. When they graduate in 2020, they will have not only a high school diploma, but also a college degree.

The new school, Business Technology Early College High School, or BTECH, will try to offer what the school’s founders call “a different type of high school experience,” which, rather than prepare students for college, will actually give them some of that education, so when they graduate, employers seek them out.

“Our aspirations for our students is that they will be highly competitive, and instead of knock on doors, employers will knock on their doors,” said Hoa Tu, BTECH’s principal.

Designed like Brooklyn’s PTECH and emphasizing a STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — curriculum, the school is in partnership with SAP, an international company that specializes in business enterprise software, and Queensborough Community College. Students will enroll in dual-credited courses and participate in work-based learning experiences, such as mentoring, job site visits, apprenticeship and internships. Successful completion of the high school and college degree programs earns the students opportunities for employment at SAP or in the thousands of companies around the globe who run SAP software.

Continue reading the original article on Queens Chronicle about BTECH >>

Original source: Queens Chronicle