This story was originally published in the first edition of The Lion’s Tale (September 29, 2017).

The students erupted into a noisy mess of panic after Bioscience teacher Kathy Savage made the announcement. Questions about graduation overlapped with questions about scholarships and honor cords and schedules as Savage tried to restore order to the classroom.

“When they first announced Bioscience was going away, I didn’t know what was going on,” said freshman Joy-Joy Um, who was previously in Bioscience 1. “I hadn’t even been in the class for a month when the teacher told us that the Bioscience program might be canceled.”

That following Tuesday, the school board convened to decide about a variety of issues. They then announced that the Bioscience Program of Emphasis at Oviedo High School would become the Biotechnology Program of Emphasis, effective that Wednesday, Sept. 6.

“The fact that the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) had plans to delete Bioscience 1, 2 and 3 from their list of available science courses first came to our attention after we failed to get approval for a fourth-year course, Bioscience 4,” Savage said.

According to Savage, the FLDOE said that enrollment in the courses was low across the state, even though OHS saw the opposite trend.

“We then realized that our entire Program of Emphasis was in jeopardy and meetings were quickly called to look at options to save it,” Savage said.

Since then, students, teachers and administration have dealt with confusion of the name change–and what impact it actually has on the program.

“If I don’t take this class, I might be sent back to my zoned school, which is not as good as Oviedo,”  said junior Lena Head. “Since it’s just a name change, I now feel more secure.”

The Biotechnology Program of Emphasis, which still allows out-of-zone student to apply, will keep most of the same content, but some changes will occur.

Bioscience 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be replaced with Biotechnology 1, 2, 3 and 4. However, students previously in Bioscience 2, 3 and 4 will not be transferred into their respective Biotechnology courses.

Instead, all current students in the Biotechnology program are registered for  Biotechnology 1 for 2017-2018.

According to Savage, however, students will still be learning content to match their previous Bioscience course.

“There is no difference in content, rigor or credits earned,” Savage said.

Some students still have reservations about the change.

“What frustrates me most about this is that I’ll be in Biotechnology 1 on paper,” said senior KC Kinestrass . “Like, my transcript would read, ‘Bioscience 1, 2, 3 and Biotechnology 1.’  Colleges might wonder why I suddenly broke off with Bioscience.”

Head stated a similar concern.

“I was in Bioscience 3, and next year I would have been in Bioscience 4, but I’ll actually be in Biotech 2…that’s confusing,” Head said. “It’s just going be more difficult, because I’ll have to attach a paper to my transcript [that says] I was actually in the same program.”

New opportunities

Freshmen like Um and sophomores like Natalie Thatcher, who are in Bioscience 1 and 2, were less frustrated.

“I will still be taking the same class content-wise, and only my schedule will change a little bit,” Thatcher said. “I am interested in the new scholarship I might be able to get now that I am in Biotechnology.”

The Gold Seal level of the Bright Futures scholarship program awards $75,000 to recipients who have three or more credits in a career program in high school. Bioscience students did not qualify for this level, but Biotechnology students that complete the program do.

Funding also played a role in causing the change to the program.

“Up to this point, our program has been funded through the original Race to the Top grant,” Savage said. “Maintaining the program has been funded through the millage tax referendum.”

Now, because the program falls under a different education umbrella, there is funding available from the state, according to Savage.

“This program cost Oviedo High School about $20,000 annually, and that’s a huge chunk of change we can now save,” Savage said.

Kinestrass stated that the increase in funding does make the change worth it.

“But it is still hard for students like me to adjust to such a dramatic change,” Kassis said. “Until a few weeks into the school year, I had no idea what the Biotechnology program was. I think that we should have been given at least some warning of this change.”

Biotechnology, as a program, also provides students the option to earn a new certification.

“We have an opportunity to offer a Pharmacist Assistant Credentialing Exam (similar to our other certification program, Biotechnician Assistant Credentialing Exam),” Savage said.

The pharmacist credential might be added to the Biotechnology 4 course curriculum.

“Pharmacogenomics is using the DNA sequence specific to an individual for genes [in medicine],” Savage said. “It is known to affect how well the human body metabolizes various pharmaceutical drugs. So we are actually trying that out this year, and we will see how successful our students can be before committing to it next year.”

Additionally, students who complete all four levels of the program may find themselves visiting more off-campus locations.

“There are also field trips [to some  research labs] that can be offered to the fourth course, that are not practical in the other years because of the sheer numbers of students we have in the program; since the fourth-year course has fewer students than the earlier years, it is easier to convince [these] facilities to let us in to visit,” Savage said.

Thatcher shared Savage’s excitement about the future of the program.

“I think the new opportunities [offered] by Biotechnology are going to be really interesting,” Thatcher said.