The Mount Airy City Schools Board of Education approved a resolution at Tuesday night’s meeting to apply for Qualified School Construction Bond money.

The Surry County Board of Commissioners suggested the school system apply for these funds to take care of some renovations. The application the school system will now submit to the Department of Public Instruction asks for $238,878. The funding will be used at Mount Airy High School to replace fascia on the gymnasium, replace the windows along the back of the school above the cafeteria, replace the tile flooring in the gym lobby, redo the lighting and complete other renovations in the auditorium, repair and replace the roof membrane on the gym and do some casework in the new commons area.

Once the application is approved, the school system hopes to get most of the work complete during the summer.

Christian Cail, Jahryn Drummond, Molly Hartness and Blake Hensley, members of Mount Airy Middle School’s Students Against Destructive Decisions and Tobacco Reality Unfiltered clubs, along with sponsor Jeannie Noble, gave a presentation in front of the board about the activities they have undertaken this year. The clubs are funded by two grants which require the students to present their activities to the board. Students in the groups have attended a summer leadership camp at Reeves Community Center, hosted Camp Middle School for rising sixth graders, created public service announcements about the dangers of parents drinking, participated in Project: Connect the Dots Project Night at RCC and hosted a Red Ribbon Week and breast cancer awareness day among other activities.

The community linkage topic for Tuesday night’s meeting focused on career paths for students with Frank Mayberry, internship and small business and entrepreneurship teacher, Larry Davis, head of career and technical education, and Principal Sandy George, available to talk to board members about what Mount Airy High School is doing to help students find a suitable career path.

Eighth graders take a nine-week course on exploring career decisions and the school system hosted a curriculum fair for the first time this year to help create an awareness of career clusters.

At the high school level, around 55 percent of students take a career management course.

“They come out of this with a career plan, but it’s also a life plan,” said Mayberry.

Students also can participate in a work-based learning program through internships as seniors, through job-shadowing opportunities and through the Allied Health II course. According to Mayberry, around 70 percent of the high school’s seniors participate in internships. Students in the Allied Health II course have the option of being able to graduate as a Certified Nursing Assistant.

There are also a number of opportunities with extra curricular programs for students to further explore career paths. Mount Airy High School participates in Project Youth Entrepreneurship Surry which teaches students about becoming entrepreneurs and the skills necessary, Youth Leadership Surry which teaches students leadership skills, E2 programming which devotes a day to different career clusters and allows students to tour facilities related to that field, and Camp Med which is geared toward those interested in a health care profession.

“As far as future incentives, we want to ensure we offer some level of career planning to 100 percent of students,” said Mayberry.

The next regular meeting of the board will take place May 18 at Mount Airy High School at 6:30 p.m.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.