While many students may choose to attend a traditional public school, a growing number of students are combining their high school academics with education specific to their desired career field through a career technical education.
The state of Ohio has numerous options available for high school students to pursue a technical, or vocational, education.
One of the most common options is attending a career center. Those schools often offer learning in fields such as nursing, welding, information technology and cosmetology, with a focus on hands-on experiences that prepare students to transition into a related college degree or directly into a career.
There has been a negative stereotype that vocational education is geared toward struggling students, says Pegeen Cleary-Potts, director of the Tolles Career & Technical Center. However, she says, the view of career technical programs has shifted, as have the opportunities for students.
“In career technical education, (students) have different abilities to use some equipment that maybe a typical teenager couldn’t use,” Cleary-Potts says. “It just gives them another year or two ahead of somebody else.”
That can also help students who have less interest in a traditional education to graduate.
According to careertech.org, students who choose to embark on a career and technical program have a graduation rate of roughly 90 percent, which is 15 percent higher than the national average.
In Ohio, a career technical education is available through every Ohio public school district, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Many career centers span multiple districts. Tolles, for example, serves Dublin, Fairbanks, Hilliard, Jonathan Alder, London, Madison-Plains
and Jefferson school districts.
Depending on the specific field, programs may range from a few months to a couple of years. The short timeframe enables students to quickly transfer their knowledge and certifications toward real world experience.
Cleary-Potts says the opportunities available at the center allow for students to have an upper hand when it comes to applying for colleges and jobs.
“When students choose to come here, it’s part of their education,” she says, “but they also graduate with an industry credential that can help them be job ready.”
Tolles’ fields of study include art design, firefighting, agriculture, early childhood education to name just a few. High school seniors at the center have the opportunity to engage in an alternating schedule program where they can complete academics in their desired field for two weeks, then go work on a job site for two weeks.
That first-hand experience can prove influential in a student’s future career and education choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 80 percent of college students change their major at least once, and for many, college is their first time being exposed to their chosen field.
Time in a career program can help provide insight into a potential career path. One of Tolles’ goals is to expose students to possible job options and what those careers might entail.
Cleary-Potts says career technical education can be beneficial for students, providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in their desired field at a younger age.
“For some people, high school is great, but for other people, coming here is a reinvention of yourself,” Cleary-Potts says. “You are going to school with like-minded folks and the environment here is wonderful.”
Lauren Serge is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
