LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jefferson County Public Schools has launched a new initiative aimed at helping students discover their passions and choose a high school. 

Explore Academies are currently operating in six middle schools, including Ramsey, which piloted the initiative last year, Farnsley, Conway, Western, Westport and Grace James Academy of Excellence.

Eighth grader Andi Renner has picked a pathway in healthcare science.

"We get to practice CPR, we get to learn about what would happen in certain situations, like if there is danger, what to do," she said. 

Robotics is also a field students can explore. (Spectrum News 1/Erin Kelly)

In sixth grade, students take part in each of the academies, which could also include robotics or business multimedia.

Then they pick an area of focus for seventh and eighth grades.

"If you want a student to be successful, you want positive outcomes for kids, they must have student belonging and student engagement in the school," said JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio. "We have ignored that for the better part of three decades in education in the United States."

Renner said she wants to focus on taking care of others.

"I’ve kind of grown up around it and I just always thought it was very interesting and seeing how other people are helping others and like making a big impact in their life and helping others in a good way," she said. 

Unlike the existing Academies of Louisville programs for high schoolers, the goal of Explore Academies is not to help middle school students identify a career, but to explore, according to JCPS.