Career Pathways: The School of Business Technology
Everything you wanted to know
by Evelyn Bradley, DHS parent

New Dulaney parents may not be familiar with the school's Career Pathways program. Essentially, the Career Pathways program encourages students to assess their interests and skills, and to focus on a career area they might want to explore. Then, students are asked to select a broad-brush career area or "Pathway," that reflects their interests.

The five Pathways designated at Dulaney are as follows:
• School of Business Technology
• School of Communications and Fine Arts
• School of Liberal Arts, The School of Engineering and Technology
• School of Health and Biosciences
Each Pathway has a description of its purpose, has identified possible career opportunities and educational paths for those who pursue that Pathway, and has designated Dulaney courses and related activities that provide students with tools and experience relevant to that Pathway.

It is not difficult for students to complete Pathway courses. Students are only asked to complete four credits within their Pathway and one extracurricular activity. Of course, State and County requirements direct most student course selections - some Pathway choices meet those requirements, and some are electives. Many courses and extracurricular activities are accepted by several Pathways. For example, languages are valid for all Pathways. Students are not asked to commit to a Pathway for all four years; they may change their chosen Pathway. The Career Pathways Program is not designed to lock students in to a particular course of study. It is intended to help students focus on their possible futures, based on what they know of their own interests and skills.

With that as background, the PTSA Newsletter presents a series of articles on each Pathway - each Pathway's offerings and the initiatives each Pathway team is involved in. Here we present the School of Business Technology.

The School of Business Technology
Students who have interests and skills in the business technology area have a wide selection of elective courses at Dulaney and aspire to a range of possible careers that involve managing, organizing and supporting business and office operations. These students may be our future business men and women, accountants, bankers, bookkeepers and stock brokers.

To start them on their path, Dulaney offers a range of elective courses that are accepted by the School of Business Technology, including:
• Accounting
• Computer information processing and potential Microsoft certification
• Keyboarding
• Marketing
• Entrepreneurship - in fact, one senior plans to open a teen fashion boutique based on the business plan she developed in her entrepreneurship class
• International business
• Business law
• Advanced Placement economics
• Advanced Placement statistics
• Foreign language courses

Dulaney's School of Business Technology also offers opportunities for future business men and women to participate in a range of extracurricular activities including:
• Membership in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). Several Dulaney students took part in the National FBLA conference last summer, and our Dulaney FBLA president also serves as Maryland's FBLA president
• Participation in a money management and investment club
• The opportunity to participate in stock market investment competitions with other high school teams
• Some upperclassmen take college-level accounting and business courses through our articulation agreements with Towson University and the Community College of Baltimore County
• Students may elect to observe a business professional for a day of "job shadowing" or to pursue an area of interest in greater depth through a mentored internship, opportunities offered by the Office of Career Connections for upperclassmen. One student developed stock portfolios during her internship with a local brokerage.

This year, Business Technology students took a field trip to New York City, to the Commodities Stock Exchange, Madison Square Garden, and NBC. Students liked the pace of the Commodities Exchange, and were quite impressed when told that the young men and women on the floor of the exchange might have earned well over a million dollars by lunchtime - these earnings make professional athletes' salaries look pale!

Business Technology students were also privileged to hear from a number of interesting guest speakers. A Dulaney graduate who owns a number of dialysis centers spoke of the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship. Another graduate, who is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and works in health care, explained what is involved in obtaining the CPA, and opened students' eyes to the fact that CPAs are employed widely in exciting industries such as sports teams, the entertainment industry, and the FBI. Towson students came to Dulaney to assist students with Web site design, and a representative from the Art Institute addressed the interface between art and business in Web site design.

The team which continues developing the School of Business Technology welcomes representation from the wider business community, as well as its clientele - Dulaney students interested in business. The team has recently benefited by the addition of a community member who is a computer scientist, and is looking for student representatives. The team is involved in recruiting additional speakers, planning a spring business field trip, and developing additional job shadowing and internship opportunities for accounting students. Parent support is always welcome. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Mike Reinsel by e-mail or by leaving a note at the front office.

As Dr. Reinsel says, "the School of Business Technology provides students with a great foundation in business - skills and knowledge that are valuable in their personal, academic and professional lives. Business Technology allows students to get a head start on the business studies that many students want to pursue beyond high school."

(This article first appeared in the February 2003 issue of the PTSA Bulletin)

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