New Career Center Awaits Westborough High Students

This year, students can research college options by traveling down the hall to somewhere in addition to the guidance office and the school library.

A career center opens on the second floor, in the school's former Jobs for Bay State Grads program, which closed for lack of state funding, Principal John Smith says.

Volunteers will run the career center, with some faculty support, particularly guidance counselors.

Students can receive career help, and "they'll be able to do some research on particular majors or colleges," Smith says.

"It's things they had some opportunities to do within guidance, but this is going to be much more formalized, and it's also going to be an opportunity where they can get more of it," he says.

The Westborough public schools' first day of school is Aug. 29.

The career center won't be Westborough High's lone addition this year.

A branch will open, off the library, "with the idea that we will be training students as tellers, students and faculty will be able to have an account," Smith says.

"You know what's the neat part? It also provides guaranteed employment for some of our kids," he says.

"So, kids that are chosen to participate in this training program and act as tellers actually get hired in the summer to work (for) the bank."

Smith expects the groundbreaking to happen later this fall.

The bank won't be the only new potential job opportunity for Westborough High students.

Peer-to-Peer tutoring plans to offer a Westborough High program, Smith says.

"The best part is they'll line up tutors in any area, not just academics, but also they'll hire tutors. So, it's a chance for some of these kids who have the academics skill in a particular area, they can actually get a job and get paid for it," he says.

Meanwhile, Westborough High staff will continue preparing for the school's New England Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation review.

Westborough High starts its self-study in January, and will complete it in December 2013, Smith says. The school has worked on the process for about a year, he says.

This fall, the school will choose committees for each of the process's seven standards, he says.

The accreditation team's three-day visit "to assess where we are with our standards, and where we are based on our self-study," will occur during the spring of 2014, he says.

"It's a great opportunity to really measure where we are," Smith says of the review.