Coxsackie-Athens is pleased to announce that the high school has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for 2022–2025 for our emphasis on developing our learner dispositions of: critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication and being self-directed through the implementation of Apple technology.
Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of innovation, leadership, and educational excellence. They use Apple technology to inspire creativity, collaboration and critical thinking in learning, teaching and the school environment, and have documented results of academic accomplishment. William Behrle, High School Principal stated, “We are very proud to be receiving this award as a high school. Our staff and students work tremendously hard and will continue to push the envelope when it comes to the use of Apple products and what they can do for our school.”
The selection of Coxsackie High School as an Apple Distinguished School highlights our success as an innovator and a compelling learning environment that engages students, and provides tangible evidence of academic achievement.
We provide students with opportunities around technology that has real world application. Students C-A Student Helpdesk (CASH) was mirrored after the Apple Genius Bar. CASH students help Tech Services as well as work on projects such as creating tech tip videos using Clips or iMovie. For the Motor Sports class, students used Clips to record test runs of the vehicles they fabricated. Finally in Entrepreneurship, students worked on proposals that were presented in C-A Shark Tank. The winner was an app designed for students connecting with colleges.
iPad use does not stop with academic projects, but extends to special events. For example, this year the ESPY Awards was live streamed and presented by students using Keynote. The scholarship awards for graduation were pre-recorded using the iPad camera, and edited using iMovie. Finally, the drama advisor used GarageBand to act as the sound effects for the play Into the Wild.
Our focus is on our 2030 destination to ensure college and career readiness. Our teachers have worked hard to vary the products for students to demonstrate learning. We continue to look for ways to engage students in real world applications, coding, publishing, virtual reality and augmented reality. Matching technology to program has allowed us to be responsive to the needs of our students and has helped us expand our opportunities for students.