Upcoming juniors and seniors at Centennial High School have a free opportunity to attend Center for Advanced Learning (CAL), a charter school located in Gresham. CAL works with a number of school districts in the state, with each district having a different number of limited spaces open. 

These school districts include Gresham-Barlow, Reynolds, and Centennial. Students accepted into CAL will get picked up by a bus after the first half of the day, and get promptly dropped off at CAL for the second half of the day. As of the current 2019-2020 school year, there are six college-level programs students can choose. 

A health science program involving medical and dental care, study in computer information through programming and networking, step-by-step manufacturing and mechanical engineering, on-hands design on different digital media such as video and posters, apparel and shoe product creation, and a business lab that teaches how to start a successful business from the ground up.

Every charter school has its own goal or something that they strive for the most. For CAL, their mission is to provide their available given programs, and work individually with their students. “Do you really want to work there? Does it match your needs? Is this what you really want to do, or would I rather be doing something else?” These are questions that students at CAL should be asking while participating in the program. CAL provides students a chance to get a glimpse as to what they want to do later in life, by working one-on-one with their students and providing the extra time to catch up on work if they need to do so. 

To sign up, students must go to the website-www.calcharter.org, select Centennial High School as their current school, and complete the online application. Applicants in March will be notified whether or not they are accepted. In February, students will have a chance to go on a field trip to CAL on February 13, but must turn in a permission slip by the 6th of February. Later that month, there will also be an open house on the 20th where parents will be able to visit the campus and ask questions.