[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1076-E1077]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PRINCIPAL CARL BURNSIDE OF DUNBAR HIGH SCHOOL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. FRANCIS ROONEY

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Mr. FRANCIS ROONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share 
with my colleagues, and include in the Record, testimony from Principal 
Carl Burnside of Dunbar High School, who testified at the Education and 
Workforce Committee and thank him for his service to our community and 
to education.

        I want to thank you Congressman Francis Rooney for 
     bestowing upon me the honor to speak to the House Committee 
     on Education. My name is Carl Burnside and I am the very 
     proud principal of Dunbar High School in Fort Myers, Florida, 
     where ``Achievement is the Expectation.'' I truly believe 
     that what we have accomplished at Dunbar High School has 
     enabled our students to rise up from incredibly humble 
     circumstances into amazing career and college successes.
        After being closed in 1969, in 2000, the school was 
     reopened and I was appointed principal. Ironically my 
     appointment was in great part due to my background in STEM as 
     being a 1993 recipient of the Presidential Award for 
     Mathematics in Teaching which I received here in Washington 
     DC. By 2005, Dunbar High School's minority to majority ratio 
     was incongruent to the demographics of the Lee County School 
     district. Therefore, something had to be done to help reduce 
     minority isolation in the district.
       After going through growth pains, a young lady by the name 
     of Jana Hambruch shared with me the concept of not just 
     having a STEM academy but having one that would allow 
     students to obtain industry certifications. As technology is 
     an inherent societal need for all, we recognized a need to 
     provide students with high-end technology training. In 2003-
     2004, a $3.3 million federally funded Magnet Grant provided 
     DHS with the chance to start the Academy for Technology 
     Excellence (ATE) program. Dunbar quickly went to the 
     forefront of College and Career Readiness as it became a 
     model for other high schools across the country. 
     Subsequently, Dunbar has been featured in a variety of 
     educational magazines, webinars, and conferences and has 
     received several distinguished awards both locally and 
     nationally.
       Originally, the Academy for Technology Excellence (ATE) 
     program was uniquely designed to provide 9th-12th grade 
     students with the training needed to get the most in-demand 
     industry standard IT certifications. The ATE program has 
     truly enabled students to cross the digital divide and focus 
     on essential skills to make them more marketable for their 
     future. ATE graduates have a competitive edge over other 
     college-bound students and several of our ATE students have 
     received employment right out of high school in the $35,000-
     $50,000 range.
        As we moved into our 3rd year of the program Microsoft 
     took notice of all the certifications our students were 
     achieving and was amazed. They decided to partner with us and 
     named our school the 1st Microsoft Certified High School in 
     the Nation. They declared our students as their ``Certifying 
     Heroes". They utilized our program as a pilot program to be 
     mirrored at other high schools throughout the United States 
     and beyond. Dunbar has partnered with technology giants like 
     Microsoft, Adobe, Hewlett Packard and Pearson VUE, plus many 
     other local business partners. Dunbar has even connected with 
     the local colleges and universities establishing bridging 
     opportunities from high school to postsecondary education. 
     Dunbar accomplished all of this despite student demographics 
     that many would see as challenging. Since its opening, the 
     school's student population had a high percentage of low 
     socio-economic students approaching 90% on free or reduced 
     lunch.
        Lead by our IT Program Manager and Lead Technology 
     Teacher, Denise Spence, the accolades that Dunbar achieved 
     have been significant. A few highlights: Besides Microsoft 
     declaring Dunbar High School as the first Microsoft Certified 
     School in the Nation, it was selected as a Microsoft Showcase 
     School. Dunbar was selected as an Adobe Model School. Both of 
     these entities reached out to Dunbar due to the success that 
     such a humble school was having in high powered 
     certifications. Our students receive paid internships 
     highlighted by the annual internships of students at Chicos 
     FAS headquarters which led to some of the students working 
     there fulltime immediately after high school. Later with Race 
     to the Top funds, Dunbar added strong programs in Engineering 
     and Biomedical Science from Project Lead The Way (PLTW) 
     further enhancing the school's opportunities for its students 
     in the College and Career pathways. When we applied to be an 
     IB Diploma School, the reviewers enthusiastically recommended 
     that due to our outstanding Career STEM pathways, we would be 
     an ideal school to also have the IB Career Related program 
     which we have also become, one of only a handful of IB STEM 
     schools in the country.
        We offer the career academies that make parents who want 
     their kids to go to college to be less hesitant and more 
     proactive in enrolling their child in these kinds of 
     programs. We offer the programs that are at a rigorous post-
     secondary level in fields that are lucrative for their 
     children not just for today but for the jobs of the future. 
     Honestly, I had no idea how much of an impact the academies 
     were having until we started to receive various visits from 
     schools, across the United States and really the world and 
     were hearing back from our graduates about the employment 
     they were getting because of the technical coursework they 
     received in high school.
        Dunbar's acclaim is worldwide. In 2014, I was invited to 
     Barcelona Spain to the Microsoft Global Forum where I had the 
     opportunity to share about the technology programs at Dunbar. 
     We receive visits from schools not just from our state but 
     also from across the country and even outside the United 
     States. Recently, we were approached by a student exchange 
     program from Hungary exploring the possibility of sending 
     some of their students to the United States to enroll in our 
     technology program.
        As a cute anecdote, much to the chagrin of my football 
     coaches, they have loss a couple of starter players due to 
     the fact that the students received fantastic paid internship 
     opportunities while in high school and are now making more 
     money than my coaches in the IT field without a college 
     degree. Here are a few of the success stories and you will 
     notice they come from different backgrounds, all low income 
     but their pathways to success were all different.
       Juan arrived at Dunbar High School unable to speak English. 
     He went on to obtain a plethora of certifications. He was 
     selected to be an intern for Chico's FAS whose national 
     headquarters is located in Fort Myers. After graduating from 
     high school, Juan went to work for Chico's full-time in their 
     IT department and attended Florida Gulf Coast University 
     part-time and worked to obtain his degree. His salary was in 
     the $40,000 range. He was recruited from there by Call Miner, 
     a technical data company, and now admittedly makes almost 
     twice as much.
        Juliana was another student who qualified for the free and 
     reduced lunch program but thrived in the technology program. 
     She went on to qualify for the World Microsoft competition. 
     She became the first person in the United States to make the 
     podium spot, as she captured 3rd place in the world in the 
     Microsoft Office World competition. Upon graduation, she went 
     on to attend and graduate from the University of Florida with 
     a full scholarship.

[[Page E1077]]

        Christian was another student who was raised by a single 
     father. Christian, who as an African American student came to 
     Dunbar his 10th grade year and was looking to find himself 
     and at the time his focus was athletics. However, due to his 
     vast IT performance from our technology program, he secured a 
     financially lucrative work situation as a Service Desk 
     Specialist and reportedly has a salary in the excess of 
     $100,000 prior to his graduating from any college.
        Last but certainly not least, Tyler also came from a 
     single family home with financial struggles. Tyler excelled 
     in all facets of school but his true passion was in the 
     technology field and his focus was always on going to 
     college. Although he knew he would need scholarships. In 
     2013, Tyler qualified for the Microsoft World competition and 
     became the first United States World Champion that year. 
     Before he graduated, he obtained over 48 industry standard 
     certifications in network administration and game design and 
     programming. He is now a student at M.I.T.
        The success of Dunbar High School has required hard work 
     and extensive planning. Decisions made could not be only 
     about the present but also the future. Our goal is to prepare 
     our students for the jobs of the future because they will 
     face a global competition in the workforce. Another key 
     component has entailed ongoing professional development for 
     our teachers. Microsoft along with other corporations such as 
     Aruba networks has assisted in that area.
        We will continue to work diligently to provide tremendous 
     opportunities for our students. We also want to continue to 
     be a leader in educating students in the K-12 arena as it 
     pertains not just to technology but to other STEM careers. 
     While we are very proud of the work that we have done, we are 
     not satisfied with resting on our accolades. We remain in a 
     mode of continuous improvement as we go provide our students 
     with incredible educational opportunities that engage them in 
     pursuing a prominent future in whatever they aspire to dream 
     about. Max Anderson who was a 2013 graduate of Dunbar 
     recently wrote to my IT staff: ``I will forever be grateful 
     for the knowledge, experience, and opportunity I was afforded 
     by Dunbar High School. I am extremely fortunate to have had 
     such great educators that pushed me to do such immense 
     things, all by the age of 23. I'll be starting a new position 
     as a systems engineer for Georgia United Credit Union in 
     Duluth, GA outside of Atlanta. This is a huge step for my 
     career, and I can't help but reflect on the teachers and 
     mentors that helped me to get to where I am today.'' We will 
     continue to impact the lives of our students at Dunbar High 
     School and what we offer at Dunbar High School is what needs 
     to be available to students throughout our nation.

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