Transforming our Learning Spaces: Academies of Hampton

As a community, Hampton came together and decided that it was time to transform what it means to teach and learn in Hampton City Schools for the betterment of our young people and their future employees.

Through collaboration and ownership, four years ago we began transforming each of our four high schools into a wall-to-wall academy model through the Academies of Hampton to be fully implemented during the 2020-2021 school year.

The Academies enable students to learn through the lens of a career or academic theme in a relevant, hands-on learning environment through real-world applications and experiences. Through their academy experiences, students are exposed to a multitude of careers and opportunities, industry skills, and potential employers by way of classroom speakers, site visits, job shadowing, and internships.

The Academies is committed to transforming the secondary school experience by revisioning and reconstructing the physical brick-and-mortar learning spaces to ensure authentic learning environments. Since the inception of the academies, the school division has worked each year to transform traditional classrooms into industry-driven, hands-on learning spaces. Despite a world pandemic, Hampton City Schools made significant facility improvements this summer to six of our sixteen college and career academies. This transformation includes but is not limited to the demolition of existing spaces; the construction of new spaces; and the installation of new walls, electrical services, cabinets, labs, furniture, electronic equipment, televisions, ceiling grids, tile, LED lights, and flooring. Through this focused effort, our students will return to a digital video production studio, a cybersecurity classroom and lab, a law academy courtroom, a health science classroom and lab, a world banking learning lab, and an entrepreneurial classroom and lab.

These six Academies of Hampton transformations are in addition to the 64+ additional summer capital improvement projects the Hampton City Schools maintenance and operations team completed.