Bourne Public Schools Awarded Fourth Innovation Career Pathway Designation

Bourne Public Schools’ delegation stood when the District received its fourth Innovation Career Pathway designation for Information (Computer Science/Cyber Security) from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (Photo Courtesy Bourne Public Schools)

BOURNE — Superintendent Dr. Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou and Principal Dr. Lisa Maguire are excited to announce that Bourne High School (BHS) has officially been awarded a fourth Innovation Career Pathway (ICP) designation for Information (Computer Science/Cyber Security) from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

DESE announced Bourne High School’s new ICP designation during the 2025 Massachusetts STEM Summit at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, May 7. Superintendent Dr. Quinlan-Zhou and Principal Dr. Maguire both attended the Summit. The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced new Innovation Career Pathway designations for 37 high schools, including 20 districts receiving a designated pathway for the first time.

“We want to transform the high school experience, and expanding Innovation Career Pathways is one crucial way we are working to do just that,” said Massachusetts Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler. “I am excited that the program will reach nearly 30 percent of high schools across Massachusetts as we work to Reimagine High School, increasing student engagement for thousands of students and creating new opportunities for them to find their own paths to successful futures.”

DESE has previously awarded three other ICP designations to BHS: Business & Finance, Life & Environmental Science and Health Care.

This school year, 22 students enrolled in BHS’s Business and Finance ICP, six students enrolled in the Environmental and Life Sciences pathway and 26 students enrolled in the school’s Health Science pathway. And although it won’t be implemented until Fall 2025, one student has already enrolled in the new Information pathway.

“The goal of providing these Innovation Pathways is to help students become more marketable to both institutions of higher learning and the world of work,” said Principal Dr. Maguire. “We’re preparing students for the real world. Whether they choose to continue their education or immediately start their careers, our students will be ready.”

A pair of BHS teachers, John McIntyre and Barbara Surrette, recently completed Project Lead the Way (PLTW) training for ICP technical courses. They will teach PLTW Computer Science Essentials and Cybersecurity; McIntyre teaches AP Computer Science A, while Surrette teaches AP Computer Science Principles.

ICPs are designed to give students coursework and experience in a specific high-demand industry, such as information technology, engineering, health care, life sciences and advanced manufacturing. These DESE-approved programs are designed to create strong partnerships with employers in order to expose students to career options and help them develop knowledge and skills related to their chosen field of study before they graduate high school.

ICPs provide students with both high-level and technical coursework related to their field of interest. Students not only gain knowledge and skills from Bourne’s ICP programs, but they also earn a designation on their high school transcripts denoting participation in a pathway, and they will receive special recognition at their BHS commencement.

As with all innovation pathways, enrolled students must take two technical courses, two advanced courses, and complete a 100-hour internship in the area of study to earn the designation.

The team that worked on this year’s new designation was led by Principal Dr. Maguire, and included Curriculum Director Jessee Clements, School to Career/Internship Coordinator Ann-Marie Strode, and School Counselor/Pathways Coordinator Kim Iannucci.

BHS’s newest ICP program, Information (Computer Science/Cyber Security), will prepare students for a career in producing and distributing information and cultural products, providing the means to transmit or distribute these products as well as data or communications, and processing data.

The Information sector includes the publishing industries, including software publishing, and both traditional publishing and publishing exclusively on the Internet; the motion picture and sound recording industries; the broadcasting industries, including traditional broadcasting and those broadcasting exclusively over the Internet; the telecommunications industries; web search portals, data processing industries, and the information services industries. 

“Our students were already gaining valuable experience in three highly sought-after fields,” said Superintendent Dr. Quinlan-Zhou. “Now we can expose students who choose the Information pathway to an all-new sector, preparing them for work or further study in the fields of computer science and cyber security.”

BHS also offers several unofficial pathways, including an education pathway, for which they hold a future educator’s signing event each year for graduating seniors planning to enter the education field. Five students are currently enrolled in the BHS education pathway.

“We also run unofficial pathways that are not DESE designations, but allow students with different interests the opportunity to engage in the same high-level and involved study of one area,” said Principal Dr. Maguire. “We run these pathways in arts and communications, engineering, government and public administration, and public safety.”

The District is also currently engaged in an Early College planning grant it received from DESE to partner with Mass Maritime Academy (MMA). Bourne High School plans to seek that designation this fall. If approved, the program will offer 12 credits to students from MMA while still in high school.

“There are five areas they can explore while on the MMA campus,” said Principal Dr. Maguire. “The goal is to offer different educational experiences and opportunities to engage different students in different academic areas, and we think this pursuit complements the work already being done in the Pathways program. We want our students to have voice and choice in our offerings, and engineering has been one of those main areas of interest. The MMA partnership will help further their studies.”

Bourne also applied for a portion of the MA Life Sciences grant — created to support life sciences innovation, workforce, and STEM education across Massachusetts — to build an operational controls simulation lab on campus with support and professional development led by MMA staff. The MMA has a fully functioning operational controls lab on their campus.

That initiative would provide exposure to a wide breadth of skills, within a variety of career pathways from HVAC and plumbing to high level engineering.

“We believe this type of exposure through physics and engineering classes at the high school will give our students a competitive edge in college and career, and are really hoping to pursue this opportunity if awarded the grant,” said Principal Dr. Maguire. “So, while our next steps may not be another IP right away, we are definitely still working hard to expand opportunities for our students.”

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The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced new Innovation Career Pathway designations for 37 high schools on Wednesday. Representatives from those 37 districts, including Bourne Public Schools, posed for a group photo following the 2025 Massachusetts STEM Summit at Gillette Stadium. (Photo Courtesy Bourne Public Schools)

Bourne High School Principal Dr. Lisa Maguire and Bourne Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou spoke with Massachusetts Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler outside the 2025 Massachusetts STEM Summit. (Photo Courtesy Bourne Public Schools)

Bourne Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou, center, and Bourne High School Principal Dr. Lisa Maguire, right, gathered at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, May 7, for the 2025 Massachusetts STEM Summit. They posed for a photo with Adam Couturier, Manufacturing Education Director, Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Northeast Microelectronics Coalition (NEMC). (Photo Courtesy Bourne Public Schools)