Woodside’s two main academies, the Graphics and Technology Academy (GTA) and Green Academy, held interviews last Thursday as part of the process of recruiting new members for next year
Operating out of the J-wing and B-2 respectively, both Academies interviewed around 140 freshman and sophomores each, pulling them out of classes throughout the day to speak with current members and mentors.
According to Green Academy mentor Jordan Filerman, the process started months ago.
“We went into freshmen English classes, gave presentations about what Green Academy is all about,” Filerman recalled. “We sent all the students a Google Form afterwards so they could indicate if they found that interesting, and that’s how we followed up with interviews.”
On interview day, senior GTA club president Adriana Hernandez noted, the rest of the process didn’t involve too much stress.
“We have a set of passes where we go and take students out of their class, just so the students who are interested in one of the academies can come, meet with a teacher, and find out if they’re a good candidate to become part of the academy,” Hernandez said.
Both academies pride themselves on offering classes focused on their topic, while also having fewer people and being, allegedly, “much more fun” than a regular class.
“Green Academy is a wonderful program at Woodside where students take the classes they need to take to graduate, but they do it within an academy setting,” Filderman described. “So it’s smaller class sizes, we get to go on field trips. And we’re environmentally focused.”
GTA, focusing more on the screen than the outdoors, offers the same academy benefits, but for those more oriented to computer-based projects.
“Throughout your years [in the academy], you learn computer-based assignments and you use all the Adobe products – we have access to all of them… Right now, I’m doing animation,” Hernandez said.
While last Thursday represented their only interview day, interested freshmen can still sign up with their counselors or talk to academy mentors by the end of the month (and beyond) to join in.
