On what was a busy day, even for him, Peter Gorman took the time to be impressed. The superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on Wednesday morning announced a plan to divide the district into six regions, or "learning communities," to oversee discipline, transportation and other issues.

By noon, he was enjoying a pleasant midday break at a lunch meeting of the CMS academic internship board.

Gorman was the guest of honor, but not the star. Students from the district filled that role. They showed that CMS has a solid foundation, or to quote Gorman: "Wow!"

The academic internship program, since its start in the 1974-75 school year, has grown into a national model. Students gain on-the-job experience and a chance to test their aspirations.

Joyce McSpadden -- then a teacher at West Charlotte and now retired -- returned this week as she often does to see what the program she nurtured has become.

As a longtime member of the program's advisory board, I go to be inspired.

The students never fail me.

This week Jeremy Tyson, a senior at South Mecklenburg with a passion for Web design and development, spoke of his internship at neteffect technologies.

By the end of his presentation, Tyson -- who started working on computers at Olde Providence Elementary -- was juggling a part-time job offer from Gorman.

Destiny Crawford, a junior at North Mecklenburg, began her internship at the N.C. Air National Guard unsure. Not everyone has a plan that early in life. Using marketing and photography, she created a recruiting poster -- "Jump Start Your Future" -- and left thinking that the Guard is a possibility.

David Pasquini, a junior at Myers Park, tried two internships, with the Dewees Island nature center and a dentist's office.

His freshman year International Baccalaureate biology class prepared him, he said. At the nature center, he developed naturalist and leadership skills while organizing youth activities and became familiar with reptiles, amphibians and ocean animals.

Turning the compost heap? An adventure in itself.

Mouths watered as Ken Aponte of East Mecklenburg described his prize-winning sautéed salmon and his internship at Sonoma Restaurant. When his Sonoma mentor "threw me into the kitchen" the first day on the job, all Aponte thought was, "Thank God I was in culinary arts."

McSpadden presented Gorman with a cookbook from the East Meck culinary department, which he immediately asked Aponte to sign. Who knows what that autograph will be worth one day?

In CMS, students can learn physics and psychology, math and marketing, and take first steps into lives of exploration and achievement.

If only every person who condemns CMS and prejudges its students could hear them talk about their passion, and meet parents, teachers and mentors.

I'm sure they would be speechless, except for maybe one word:

"Wow!"

IN MY OPINION Mary C. Curtis