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Union fetes Collegiate Academy
Originally posted August 17, 2012
The Union Collegiate Academy will open its doors to 3,200 10th- to 12th-grade students Monday. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
Union Collegiate Academy looks more like college than high school
BY KIM ARCHER Tulsa World Staff Writer
(Reprinted with Permission. This is not an endorsement.)
The new Union Collegiate Academy resembles a college campus rather than a high school - with tiered lecture halls instead of just typical classrooms and study areas spread throughout the building.
On Monday, 3,200 Union 10th- to 12th-graders will be the first to attend classes there, finding both new learning opportunities and different kinds of spaces as they begin school.
"This will make it an easier transition for students from high school to college," Superintendent Cathy Burden said. "It gets them ready with different kinds of classes in the protective environment of a high school. We want their experience to be as personalized and nurturing as possible."
The $29 million facility was built as a north wing to the high school. Voters approved two bond issues to fund it. The 125,000-square-foot building is three stories high and has 37 classrooms, a student union, a multimedia room that seats 300 and a tiered lecture room with a retractable wall. When the wall is retracted, the lecture hall will seat 120 students.
The student union contains the college and career office and the student life office. Union school board members and administrators surprised Burden by naming the college and career office for her. She announced Thursday that she will retire after this year.
Seating areas are located throughout the facility so students can work independently or meet in study groups.
Eight locations will be available where students can eat, much like a college setting. Students will be able to choose from healthy versions of Chinese food, subs and other types of food. The CyberCafe will offer a setting much like Starbucks coffee shops.
The third floor was designed for STEM - or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - classes. The newest STEM class is biotechnology, which will allow students to learn how to manipulate cells to test for DNA, Burden said.
"We have equipment you usually don't get until someone is in graduate school," she said. The building will be open from early morning to late evenings so that students will have access to computers and labs.
The concept will allow Union to expand the number of high school students concurrently enrolled in Tulsa Community College or Tulsa Technology Center courses. This year, 10th-graders will attend the high school and have access to concurrent courses, while the Intermediate High has become the Ninth Grade Center.
Last year, Union seniors took 1,792 hours of college courses while working on their high school diplomas. Each TCC course requires only a small student fee, and Tulsa Tech programs are free to Union students.
Burden said those students' parents saved $1.2 million in college tuition because of the program, and students got a head start on their way to college or a career.
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Area schools head back to class
Bixby: Friday
Sand Springs: Monday
Sapulpa: Monday
Tulsa: Monday
Union: Monday
Broken Arrow: Thursday
Union Public Schools employees tour the new Union Collegiate Academy before classes begin Monday. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
Employees look around a biotechnology lab and classroom in the Union Collegiate Academy on Thursday. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
Union Public Schools employees tour the new Union Collegiate Academy before classes begin Monday. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
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