By Charly Buchanan

Reporter

In the 2016-2017 school year, Blue Springs south will be offering two new programs- Hospitality and Tourism Management and Aviation.

Both programs were developed to provide students with preparation for future job opportunities. Susie Hall, a teacher in the FACS department at South, has worked a great deal on developing the Hospitality and Tourism Management Course. She will be the teacher and coordinator for this program, which partners with Stoney Creek Hotel, the Mavericks, the Chiefs, and Visit KC, the prime marketing firm for tourism in Kansas City. Hall described the many benefits that come with taking this course, the key one being the amount of hands-on experience. Other benefits include college credit through Missouri State University, scholarship opportunities, and frequent field trips and guest speakers.

This program is designed for seniors interested in sales, management, and marketing and will be taught at the Paul Consiglio Center. Principal Charlie Belt shared why Hospitality and Tourism Management, as well as Aviation, will be offered next school year to the Students of Blue Springs South.

“They may lead students to a career and towards the next step in their life,” said Belt.

Blue Springs is one of the first districts to offer this program, which is of great relevance at this time due to sales being the second largest industry in Missouri.

The other new program, Aviation, offers two different courses- Pilot Ground School and Principles of Helicopter Flight and Unmanned Aircraft. This program was researched by the central office administrators and developed in partnership with the University of Central Missouri. As these are entry-level courses, it is not required that one be a part of Junior ROTC to join. This program will deal with physics and aerospace engineering and will, as thought by Belt thus far, be taught by an adjunct professor from the University of Central Missouri.

Through hard work from teachers and administrators, these new, unique programs were designed to help each student find a place where they can excel and learn skills that are of value to them and the outside world.