By David Cruz

It’s a 21^st century school for a 21^st century world.

Call that the mantra for Tech International Charter School in Kingsbridge Heights, a middle school settled in a relatively new ten-story office building on Corlear Avenue. Since the Norwood News first reported on the school back in 2011, TI Charter School has now added a seventh grade to its roster to its already established sixth grade, making up a student body of 215. An eighth grade class slated for the 2014-2015 school year will bump the population to over 300.

One of the few tech-centric middle schools in the Bronx, TI Charter School is now bracing for a nail-biting lottery drawing slated for April 9^th, with applications due on April 1^st. An open house is scheduled for Thursday, March 27^th at its campus at 5:30pm.

The school is home to the overcrowded District 10, with priority given to neighborhood students over those commuting beyond the school. But what 87% of the kids have in common is they’re Title I students, falling within  low-income levels that are common within District 10.

“A lot of people want to come into charter schools,” said Oslene Carrington, its executive director. “I mean, we have a lot of resources in this school who wouldn’t.”

Those resources include plenty of PCs, Macbooks, and tablets, tools Carrington believes can prepare students in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. It seems fitting for Carrington to work at TI Charter School, having come into the nonprofit world with a background in corporate finance.

Competition has grown fiercer these days. Kids as young as seven years old are writing computer code in other parts of the country, though that trend hasn’t caught up in the Bronx. Indeed, computer usage in the home is limited in the borough, with just 37 percent of households owning a computer, according to a 2013 report by then city comptroller John Liu.

“What we’re trying to do as a middle school is orient young kids to those tools not for the wow factor but to be able to use them, appreciate them to use them in the work of life, which to them is their school work,” said Carrington.

The charter school is bounded by regulations set forth by the State University of New York, which authorized the opening of the school in 2012. The doors opened in September of that year, beginning with a sixth grade class only. Following the painstaking state math and English, Language, and Art test, students at TI Charter School performed poorly given the tougher standards in math and English, Language and Art (ELA), a reason school officials introduced an after school program intended to help students prepare for the next standardized test.

And while TI Charter School’s mission statement involves incorporating technology to the lesson plan, it also introduces a global awareness theme, compelling students to learn more about the world beyond the Bronx. Last year, for instance, students held live video chats with other students from a different part of the country.

“This idea of 21^st century readiness is about at the age of about 11 or 12 getting exposed to people, getting exposed to ideas, getting exposed to things from the other parts of the world that you would not otherwise because you don’t have a family member who lives there.

The school is in a transition of sorts. Carrington, for instance, arrived to the school a year back after its original executive director moved on. The job of principal is currently vacant, with Carrington assuring a new principal will be found by the end of the school year. For now, Carrington is doubling as the principal while managing the rest of the daily responsibilities, which also includes managing the construction of its second floor.

But by the time things settle, Carrington assures the school will uphold their mission statement—using technology to introduce students to the world.

“It’s made their world’s bigger, but at the same time it’s made their world closer,” she said.

To submit an application, log onto www.ticharter.org.