Advanced CART-ography

Visitors map the progress of Fresno-Clovis' school for research and technology.

By Felicia Cousart Matlosz/The Fresno Bee
(Updated Saturday, January 31, 2004, 6:43 AM)

Parents Pam and Bruce Aldrich on Thursday morning took their first stroll through the Center for Advanced Research and Technology charter high school, attracted by the school's fourth annual showcase of its students and their work. The Aldriches were accompanied by their son, Jonathan, a sophomore at Buchanan High School. Pam said she looked forward to chatting with teachers and other CART officials about the state-of-the-art school that has garnered national attention.

CART bioengineering lab students Valerie Gloria, 17, left, and Linda Vang, 18, right, tell Violet Steitz about their idea for helping Hoppy, a Chihuahua-mix puppy born without front legs, move around with the aid of a wheeled platform Thursday. (Eric Paul Zamora / The Fresno Bee)

"Jonathan is interested in checking out CART and maybe [wants to] come here next year,"

said Pam, as students and other visitors streamed through the school's laboratories and stopped at exhibits. "I've heard good things, but we also have him on the track for college prep and we want to make sure that it fits both needs," she said.

CART, a partnership of the Clovis and Fresno unified school districts, uses a real-world, hands-on approach and technology to stimulate students' interest in learning. The school, housed in a sleek, modern-looking building on Clovis Avenue just south of Shaw Avenue, serves juniors and seniors. The students spend half the day at CART and the other half at their home high schools.

Thursday's showcase gave the school's 1,200 students a chance to talk about their work, which stems from four career clusters: professional sciences, engineering, advanced communications and global economics. "It's an opportunity for the community to come in and see what it is we're really doing here at CART," said Steve Ward, the school's chief operating officer.

Presentation topics included designing a robot, addressing air pollution issues in the central San Joaquin Valley and designing a device to enable a two-legged dog to walk. At one booth, McLane High junior Chris Newton explained the forensic research he put together with Clovis East junior Devon Long. The pair had electrodes attached to a laptop computer to administer polygraphs. Chris said he enrolled at CART because he wanted to try something new. "I really like forensics," he said. "I heard they had a forensics class, so I wanted to try it."

Not far away, Garrett Benjamin and Kelly Pevyhouse donned latex gloves to discuss a sheep's brain on a metal tray as part of a presentation from a biomedical lab. The pair explained the intricacies of the brain's functions, and Garrett, a senior from Clovis High, said the sheep version is very similar to the human brain. Both he and Kelly, a senior from Clovis East, said they've enjoyed their experience at CART. Garrett, for example, said he had planned to work as a chiropractor but now will go into physical therapy. CART, he said, "makes you gear to what you exactly want to do and solidifies that."

Among Thursday morning's visitors were 33 students from Red Bank Elementary School. Fifth-grade teacher Holly Warrington, the coordinator for gifted and talented education at the school, brought fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders in the program to CART. Warrington said her son, Nick, now 20, attended CART and "loved it." As the youngsters were led on tours by CART students, Warrington explained why she brought such young children to the school. "I wanted them to see what was available here because when they're in high school, they could maybe think about coming over," she said. "It's kind of different from the normal high school experience."

The reporter can be reached at fmatlosz@fresnobee.com or 441-6428.