Atlantic Collegiate Academy

The Compass Program: Innovative Support for Student Success

History of the Compass Program

Our students are just like any other student in the state, so how are they able to do what they do?

In addition to our unique model of offering free Dual Enrollment courses to our students, we also have our Compass Program. This program started when one of the teachers at Oceanside Collegiate Academy, Stephanie Haynes, noticed that students and their families had no idea how to be successful in Pinnacle’s academic model. 

Like all typical high school students, they too struggled with time management, did not understand how to set achievement goals, experienced high levels of performance anxiety (academic and athletic), and had difficulty understanding how to determine what to do with life after graduation. Additionally, parents did not understand how to support their students. What was too much help and what was too little?

Stephanie approached then OCA Principal Brenda Corley, and Dean of Academics Christina Brown, and proposed an idea for a course to help freshman students and their families achieve a high level of success both in our rigorous academic model and onward, after graduation. The result was the Compass Program (custom-named R.E.E.F, Reaching Educational Excellence for Freshmen at OCA by Coach and co-teacher and creator Wylie McCall).

This year-long course focuses on four main topics: 

1. How to Become a Successful High School Student: Focused on teaching concepts like time management, goal setting, study skills, test preparation skills, note taking etc. 
2. How to Manage Mental Health in High School: Teaching students how to identify and manage situational depression, test and performance anxiety, general anxiety, and ways to manage stress in healthy ways.
3. How to Build a Successful Post-High School Plan: Focused on how to identify potential careers, and introduce the many pathways to take for education and training as well as how to develop experience, professional skills, and practical resources like resumes and cover letters.
4. How to “Adult” Well: Focuses on teaching students basics like taxes, preparing to be good drivers, living on their own, and credit.

In its first year, students and parents reported greater academic success and the school reported an increased culture of success both in the classroom and in the school as a whole. Today this program, in its sixth year at OCA, has helped to foster a culture of academic success, respect, and leadership on and off the field. 

As a result, Pinnacle has chosen to make this program foundational to all of its schools and has hired Stephanie to develop it.

The Compass Program at Atlantic Collegiate Academy

Principal Mike Lorenz is working with Stephanie to train his teaching staff to cover all of the Compass Program topics each year in the ninth and 10th grades, focusing on both a general approach to each topic as well as on the specific needs of each course. Additionally, teachers will work as a cohort with groups of students to add an extra layer of development and accountability. 

In their junior and senior years, beginning with the class of 2026, students will be enrolled in a year-long course to support both the development of a comprehensive post-graduation plan and the implementation of its first steps, such as college applications, FAFSA, scholarship searching and applications, job shadow and internship opportunities, as well as developing professional resumes, networking and interviewing skills. This experience is capped off with a community-service based Capstone project designed to bridge the gap between student experience and a community’s need for innovative problem solving of the issues its members face.

The goals of the Compass Program at Atlantic Collegiate Academy are simple: 

• Instill the values of the Armada Way A.N.C.H.O.R. within its culture for all staff and students to become:
  • Accountable for our own success
  • Notable in our achievements in the classroom, on the field, and in the community
  • Capable of overcoming the challenges we face
  • Humble in our approach to problem solving
  • Optimistic about our futures
  • Respectful of others in all we do
• Build opportunities for academic, athletic, and personal success for every student
• Create a  culture of respect
• Build opportunities for leadership development within  the staff and student body
• Foster connections within the community through service, internships, and job shadowing

The Compass Program at Atlantic Collegiate Academy will offer every student the opportunity to develop their own personal pathway to success, giving them access to the tools and support they need to become the responsible, community-minded adults of tomorrow.