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Mechanicsburg Area School District presents three new elective course proposals including entrepreneurship and lifeguarding
Summary
District staff presented proposals for an entrepreneurship elective, a Red Cross–aligned lifeguarding class and a sports-nutrition day-six course; trustees and staff discussed enrollment, certification and staffing implications ahead of future approval.
Mechanicsburg Area School District staff on Oct. 28 presented three new high-school elective course proposals — entrepreneurship, lifeguarding and sports nutrition — describing how each would fit into student pathways and district scheduling.
Miss Tasha Clever outlined the entrepreneurship elective as a project-based course that would take students from idea generation through market research to pitching a venture. She said the course is rooted in career-education standards and intended to develop an entrepreneurial mindset — “creativity, resilience, risk tolerance, adaptability” — that is transferable beyond starting a business. She credited Rebecca Ericson, a BCIT teacher at MASH, for helping develop the course overview.
District trustees asked whether students would move from individual ideas to team projects and whether career/personality assessments would be used; Clever said students will be expected to ground ideas in market research and that scheduling and sectioning (and therefore staffing) will depend on final enrollment.
Representing the health and physical education department, Mrs. Broombach described a semester-long lifeguarding elective built to the American Red Cross curriculum that would be taught as a full block on the district’s six-day cycle. She said students who complete the course may take the Red Cross certification test and that the course would be capped at 12 students per Red Cross guidance; the course is targeted to juniors and seniors (roughly age 16+). Mrs. Broombach said a teacher is prepared to receive instructor training to run the class.
The sports-nutrition proposal, drafted with help from middle-school teacher Katie Hamford, was presented as a day-six elective meant to address misinformation about fad diets and supplements and to serve both athletes and non-athletes. Board members asked about concussion-related nutrition guidance; staff said the district has concussion protocols and noted nutrition can be a part of recovery conversations.
Administrators said final decisions about offering additional sections or adding staff will depend on student interest and scheduling constraints. The course proposals were presented for discussion; any formal approvals or next steps will be brought to a future board meeting.
