Lewiston-Porter Academy of Business celebrates student success

15 members graduate from 3-year program

Article and Photos by Terry Duffy

Editor-in-Chief

As Lewiston-Porter High School prepares for its annual commencement exercises next Friday at Artpark, its “school within a school” celebrated a memorable event of its own last week at the Youngstown Yacht Club.

There, 15 members of the 2025 graduating class of the Lewiston-Porter Academy of Business and Finance marked the completion of a three-year program that has its focus on preparing participants for the real-world work experiences of life.

The Academy of Business centers its instructional approach on the business world and its challenges. Known in earlier years as the LPHS career exploration internship program, it is now part of NAF Be Future Ready, a national network of education, business and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career and future ready.

Lewiston-Porter’s Academy of Business is managed by Director Brian Hall and Internship Coordinator Nicole Krawczyk, with 11 local business advisers from the community, and a student enrollment projected to grow to more than 60 for the 2025-26 school year. Lewiston-Porter’s is one of 634 such academies operating in 367 high schools across the U.S.

“The Academy of Business and Finance is designed for students who seek to broaden their knowledge in the vital areas of business and finance,” according to the district website, www.lew-port.com. “It is meant to be a challenging and rewarding program for those who are interested in a unique educational experience.”

Academy students at Lew-Port participate in “career-focused curricula that incorporate current industry standards and practices, project-based learning, and performance-based assessment,” the NAF website noted. “NAF empowers teachers to expand the classroom boundaries by exposing students to real-world issues in career-focused industries through connections with industry professionals and the business community.”

The Lew-Port Academy takes that a step further, by establishing partnerships with the business community and enabling students to have experiences in various career fields. The options may range from medical to tech, entertainment and the arts to engineering, government to education.

Hall said the internships include such sponsoring groups as Artpark, the Porter Cup, Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours, WTS Inc., Mark Cerrone Inc., Hodgson-Ross LLC, Swimmin’ with the Fishies, Edward Jones Financial, The Drain Doctor, and KeyBank.

“Our kids go out and they do 80 hours of a paid internship between their junior and senior year,” Hall said. “Our students do such a good job when they're there, we get asked to go back. Because of the education they gained at Lew-Port they know how to be a good employee.”

The Lewiston-Porter Academy’s Class of ’25 graduates include Zachary Barber, Benjamin Brown, Abby Carpenter, Emily Droegmyer, Beau Dugan, Makayla Farnham, Mattilynn Freiermuth, Luciano Latorre, Peter Monahan, Joseph Mullen, Zoe Ranieri, Jenna Sweeney, Liliana Unversaw, Isabella Violante and Ava Wylke.

“(They’re) a special group of seniors; a really great special class; really near and dear to my heart,” Hall said. “I see a lot of success in the future.”

For more information on the Lewiston-Porter Academy of Business and Finance, visit www.lew-port.com.

Academy of Business Director Brian Hall reviewed the 2024-25 year with Lew-Port parents and students.