By promoting programs that help students earn certifications and find careers with fruitful futures, area high schools seek to contribute to the growing workforce in 2017 and beyond.
All three area high schools have continued to surpass the county and statewide graduation rates in 2016.
In Plant City, administrators at Durant, Strawberry Crest and Plant City High schools agree that getting students to graduation day is only part of the equation — what students do after they cross the stage and get their diploma is also a top priority, from heading to college to joining the military or workforce.
At schools in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World, achieving those goals is accomplished by helping students turn their passions into a career path through programs that make graduates an asset wherever they choose to go.
“It’s about all of them,” Plant City High School Principal Susan Sullivan said. “They’re all diverse, and they all have different skills. It’s about making connections between kids and the community and having them find not just a job, but a career.”
Plant City
With programs that range from cosmetology to construction, Plant City High School teachers and administrators are letting students know that career options are available to them while they earn a high school diploma.
“I think part of it is just getting them beyond graduation,” Sullivan said. “They can leave here with certifications in the industry. Sometimes I think kids can’t see beyond prom and grad bash. Sometimes they think, ‘I’ll figure it out when I get there.’ If they don’t have a plan … they might flail a little bit. We want to make them aware of what’s available to them. They can make a great living.”
Sullivan said that about 40% of Plant City High School graduates head to a college or university after graduation, with many starting a two-year college. The school saw 86.4% of its seniors graduate last year — many with additional industry certifications.
“We want to help fill employment needs in our community,” Sullivan said. “Some of these jobs that are considered ‘blue collar’ have so much potential for earning money if people are willing to work hard.”
The potential to earn more becomes an even bigger possibility for students who have industry training before they’ve even graduated high school. In addition to cosmetology and construction, Plant City High School also offers electrical, childcare, health science, business technology and veterinary assisting programs.
“In our electrical program, kids can get certified in four years,” Sullivan said. “They’ll have some on-the-job experience. In our vet assisting program, kids can work in a veterinarian’s office. They’re getting experience in the field and observing. It’s great for kids to figure out what they want now.”
Some students have seen their hard work pay off before graduation day. Plant City High School hosted a Future Fair before graduation in 2016, where some students were offered jobs in the Plant City workforce, including at major employer Stingray Chevrolet.
“Stingray Chevrolet hired four kids out of that,” Sullivan said. “Some were in the construction and manufacturing types of areas. We want to help kids with other plans besides college. We want to help them make connections in the job market with a future.”
As an added benefit, engaging kids in programs keeps them engaged in their other classes. The school’s 86.4% graduation rate is above the county’s rate of 79.1%. Sullivan hopes the school’s graduation rate will rise in 2017.
“I have a very strong group of seniors this year,” she said. “It’s a very competitive group. We should see some great things out of (them), and we want them to come back and contribute to the community.”
While Sullivan would like to see area students who graduate enter the workforce here in Plant City, she knows that kids need to feel like they have opportunities for their future available to them.
“One of the reasons I was excited to come to Plant City High School was to help kids realize that it’s a great place to live,” Sullivan said. “I want kids to further their education, and I want them to feel like there’s something for them to come back to Plant City for.”
At Strawberry Crest and Durant, educators share similar sentiments on preparing students for the future.
Strawberry Crest
Home to the area’s International Baccalaureate program, Principal David Brown said that Strawberry Crest High School is no stranger to the competitive college applicant.
“But the competition is enormous now for them,” he said. “There’s more people applying.”
But even at Strawberry Crest, Brown said, students know that college isn’t the only option.
"The partnership with area schools is vitally important to a strong workforce, and we continue to look for ways to bridge the gap with schools and employers. This month, we will take several hundred students to visit area businesses to learn about some of the job opportunities available here in Plant City." — Jake Austin, EDC President
The school, which opened in 2009, saw a 95.3% graduation rate from its 2016 class.
“First and foremost, we want them to get them all to graduate,” Brown said. “But then it’s: ‘What’s next?’ There’s a lot of different things they can do if they don’t go to college, but they still have to have that foundation of a high school diploma.”
On the job experience doesn’t hurt, either. Like Plant City, Crest offers programs to students to help them prepare for the workforce, including culinary, vet assisting and firefighting programs. Just as colleges and the military bring in recruiters to talk to students, industry leaders are making visits to schools to get kids interested in the workforce.
“It’s changing that mindset,” Brown said. “Kids don’t have to go to the University of Florida, they don’t have to go to Harvard and Yale. As our Baby Boomers retire, finding a workforce is hard. Growth is back in Hillsborough County, there’s no denying that.”
Durant
As Durant High School Principal Pam Bowden knows, students at Durant typically come from two main areas: subdivisions and rural families. For that reason, agriculture and related fields play into popular programs at the school, including Durant’s agriscience program.
“Our agriscience program teaches farming and horticulture,” she said. The program helps students prepare for careers in animal science, forestry, ag communications and related fields. “There’s a pretty big industrial and agricultural area around us.”
Though Durant is the only school in the area to offer an agriscience program, it too offers programs found at Plant City and Durant, including culinary, childcare and business and computer technology. The school also has a criminal justice program that is taught by a former parole officer. Intellectually disabled students are able to learn job skills through community-based training at South Florida Baptist Hospital.
“I think a lot of kids are looking to enter the workforce,” Bowden said. “Our culinary program teaches kids how to work in the food service industry. That falls in line with a lot of the tourism industry in Florida. In our childcare program, students can leave being fully certified to work in the industry. These are great skills for a kid to leave with. Largely, the kids that are successful come from teachers who have been successful.”
In the future, Bowden would like to see more career-oriented programs at the school, as well as an increase in community partnerships.
“We do have a community that looks after our school,” she said. “I think it’s our responsibility as a school to listen to what our community wants from us. What do employers need?”
Durant had a graduation rate of 89.1% in 2016, up from 87.4% in 2015.
“I think it’s a whole school effort to improve graduation rates,” Bowden said. “You have to get kids to buy in. They have to have a reason and a purpose for coming to school. That makes them employable for when they graduate, and that makes them competitive. It makes them a little better of an applicant, I think.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
