Kebene Tesfaye, a junior at Bexley High School, and Abigail Chavez, a sophomore, are attending Columbus’s COSI Academy this school year.

Tesfaye and Chavez, students in Bexley’s English as a New Language program (ENL), were selected in the fall to receive full scholarships to the yearlong Academy. The two completed the COSI Academy application, including three essays, as part of a classroom assignment to advance their English language skills, according to ENL teacher Sherry Coutant.

Bexley’s ENL program is guided by the idea that a new language is best learned within the context of real life experiences. The students set classroom goals and pick projects to learn words and their meanings by completing activities that connect them with the American culture while honoring their own culture and language. Ms. Tesfaye and Ms. Chavez arrived in Bexley three years ago with limited English language skills.

The COSI Academy, a career exploration program for high school students considering science, technology, engineering, math, and health careers, meets one Saturday each month at the downtown science center. Participants travel on field trips to area labs and technology companies or to university science facilities. The students also undertake a college visit in the spring.

So far in the COSI program, the two Bexley students and their 48 counterparts from across central Ohio have met an architect involved with the development of Easton Town Center and learned about his career path. They spent most of the second Saturday at Riverside Hospital, exploring its facilities and medical training labs.

Back at COSI, the students heard about ways to prepare to go to college. “They told us about loans and government money and financial aid,” said Ms. Chavez. The Academy students also hear about various science topics, such as climate change, and participate in team building exercises.