GreatNews.Life Student Voices: Fall is coming around to the ACC

What’s recently happened?

October 20 was International Chef’s Day. Local companies and restaurants like Unilever Food Solutions and Culver Duck Farms came out to celebrate with the culinary class at the Hammond Area Career Center (ACC).

Scott Middle School and Eggers Middle School were both invited to join in on the fun. 

The event featured a lot of taste testing and demonstrations that allowed  students in the Culinary program to present some of what they’ve learned to the middle school students.

“I had to demonstrate the different types of cuts of vegetables and fruits,” said Joshua Dixon, culinary student. “I also had to demonstrate the different types of knives there are with my knife kit.”

The Criminal Justice class had its mock trial on October 14, where everyone was divided into groups to simulate a real trail. There was a jury whose job was to be as removed from the case as possible until it was time for the trial, a prosecution, and a defense where each had to build their side of the case themselves. The mock trial took place in the auditorium and the prosecution won in the end.

The ACC has officially started its annual food drive. From October 9 to November 14, students can bring in unexpired goods and non-perishable items in support. The class with the most items wins.

What’s coming up?

On November 3, the Survive Alive House will open again for the first time in five years. From 12-6 p.m., community members will be able to come and check out the surviving house and participate in fun activities. Snacks will also be sold at the ACC cafe.

“We’re going to set up an I spy where kids have to identify dangerous objects that could optionally start a fire,” said Ryan Cogdill, emergency medical services instructor.

A lot of hard work went into ensuring the open house would happen on time, much of which occurred during the summer.

“The majority of the stuff in there was broken,” Cogdill said. “The smoke machine was broken because it hadn’t been used in five years, so we had to get a grant to get it fixed.”

In addition to the open house, the ACC is hosting a pasta dinner fundraiser the same day. Parents and community members can come in and purchase a dinner and take it with them to go. All proceeds will help students with the cost to attend SkillsUSA and HOSA at the Regional and State level.

The dinner will include spaghetti, bread, a drink and dessert. Each plate will be $15.

Staff spotlight:

Sara Sweney is the criminal justice instructor at the ACC. She’s been working at the ACC for about two months now, with this year being her first time teaching. Before coming to teach at the ACC, Sweney was in the fire academy when a friend who works at the ACC informed her that they were looking for a replacement teacher for the criminal justice program.

“I was excited,” Sweney said. “There’s a lot that I learned in 10 years that I wish someone would have taught me before.”

Her expectations for the year are to try and give her students the best experience. She hopes that when her students leave her class, they take with them a good moral compass.

“We see a lot of bad law enforcement officers nowadays,” Sweney said. “I want to teach them to always do the right thing and to be good human beings to people.”

Prior to her time at the fire academy and teaching, Sweney served in law enforcement as a police officer for 10 years.

When she’s not teaching, she is a part of the fire department and is currently in EMT school. Outside of work, she plays club volleyball and she spends time with Indy, her dog who also served as her K-9 when she still worked as an officer.

Student spotlight:

Nihya Mitchell is a student in the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) program, better known as architectural engineering to those more familiar with it. Mitchell started the program because of her interest in engineering,  and it’s something she hopes to do in the future. Her attraction to engineering began because of her brother.

“It’s something I’ve been interested in since I was a child,” Mitchell said. “My older brother is an engineer and I heard him talk about it all the time.”

After high school, she plans to go to college to earn a degree in environmental engineering. At the moment, her three main colleges of choice are Purdue University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Her goals for this year are to maintain good academics and to get accepted into one of her ideal universities.

“I’m going to need a lot of discipline,” Mitchell said. “It’s going to be a grueling process and I need to believe in myself.”

Some of her hobbies include reading and drawing. When she’s not in school, Mitchell is usually working.