Teacher Spotlight: Leading the Way in Pilot Programs

Skyline Teacher Leads the Way in Pilot Programs 

Latonia M. Atkins is the Lead Teacher for the Academy of Finance at Skyline High School. She currently teaches Accounting and Principles of Business, Marketing, and Finance within the NAF finance academy. Prior to teaching, she received both her BA in Business and a Masters in Teaching from Delta State University in Cleveland, MS. In corporate America, Latonia worked as a Financial Counselor in a healthcare facility for over 10 years. She transitioned easily into a teacher within Career and Technical Education in the Fall of 2008. Since coming from a family of educators, Latonia always knew she wanted to teach.

“I love the reciprocal process of teaching. The more I love teaching, the more the students love learning.” Latonia was chosen to be a part of a pilot by NAF due to her interest in exposing the students to career fields and skills and help them gain insight on the use of digital learning. Additionally, Latonia is the only teacher in Texas that was recently chosen to participate in the Open P-TECH pilot program based on her background and interest interview. The Open P-TECH program can help you introduce the professional competencies required to work in any future profession through engaging, self-paced learning modules that help your students begin their career exploration. The four lessons in the Job Application Fundamentals course are: Social Media through an Employer’s Lens, Workplace Research, Creating Your Professional Resume, Job Interview Prep / Mock Interviews. For students interested in technology, Open P-TECH also offers free online courses on emerging technologies like blockchain, AI, quantum computing, and the cloud.