PLANT CITY STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT LOCAL CAREERS.
Students regularly graduate from high schools with no plan for a career and their future. So, it is easy for them to get stuck in a job that isn’t a good fit, or doesn’t provide much in the way of an upward path financially, or doesn’t offer ways to develop skills.
On the other side of this equation are local companies that want to employ young people as soon as they graduate from high school to set them on a real career trajectory.
The Future Career Academy introduces these needs to each other. It focuses on revealing to students local, in-demand jobs that offer long-term career growth and sustainable employment. The organization accomplishes this by cultivating relationships between Hillsborough County Public Schools, community partners, and businesses. Yvonne Fry founded this organization in Plant City in 2015. Today, Future Career Academy is embedded in all 37 public high schools in Hillsborough County—giving students career aptitude testing, financial instruction, training in interviewing, and how to dress for interviews, among other things.
One of the offerings the Academy extends to students is employer site visits. On January 17, eight buses picked up a total of 388 seniors from Strawberry Crest, Simmons, Durant, and Plant City High School to take them on informational visits to local businesses like South Florida Baptist Hospital/BayCare, Florida Agency Network/Hillsborough Title Company, and NuCycle Energy. Just like most people, students may not know the business model of many local employers, and the job options and careers they can offer. These students spent the full day touring eight companies. At each location, staff from the business spoke to the students about what the company produces, the types of jobs they offer, how these jobs can set the students up for long-term careers, and guided them through operations spaces.
One such business is NuCycle Energy. “We have done this every year for several years,” Mark Barasch, the CEO said. NuCycles’ headquarters is in Plant City. Its business is landfill abatement and fossil fuel replacement—the company repurposes material that was otherwise bound for landfills—cardboard, paper, wood, and plastic. The company processes the materials into an enviro-fuel cube that has a non-waste determination from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The cube burns as efficiently as the same weight of coal, but with far less environmental impact. NuCycle hires people to work in materials management, operations, accounting, and maintenance, among other things. “We have a very unique situation here, and I am going to make it a part of this,” Barasch said. “We had a fire here. We talked about whether or not we should cancel this visit, and I suggested we not cancel it because the point was to show these high school kids what adult life is like—and it is not always perfect. They are going to go to several businesses around town, and they are going to see things operating normally. However, they are going to come here today and see us in construction mode, putting ourselves back together, readying to go back into manufacturing.”
For lunch, all of the students gathered at the Plant City stadium where they heard from City of Plant City employees who started off in entry-level positions, and who have worked their way up in the city’s organizational chart.
Ad-Vance Talent Solutions is an HR Staffing Partner for the City of Plant City. “It’s my favorite day of the year,” Holly Malave, Talent Acquisition Manager for the company, said about the business tour day. “This gives the kids hope for the future. They aren’t out in the world. They don’t know what it’s like. We can show them that even if they don’t go to college, they can find a good job.” For her company, one of Malave’s functions is to review resumes. She sees 150 resumes every week from college graduates who are unable to find a job. “I believe in the Future Career Academy’s mission of giving modern day youth the information and the tools to find a career without having the expense of college. It gives them the opportunity to understand they can be successful in a career without college.”
As a part of its partnership with Future Career Academy, Ad-Vance Talent Solutions awards 12-month career coaching packages to two graduating seniors from Plant City schools. “So, after they graduate, we offer a support system—writing resumes, interview coaching, helping in the job search, emotional support, and anything that student needs,” Malave said. “This award comes with gift cards for gas, clothing to go to interviews, and lunch food, so they can get to work, get a job, and dress appropriately. Each award has a value of $1,200. We did it last year, and it was a great success.” To enter the contest, students have to submit an entry form with a formal essay, a resume, and either a short video, or a written summary about themselves.
“Future Career Academy means a lot to the students,” Simmons Principal Sundy Chazares said. “When our school first opened in 2004, there were a lot of things we needed to change. In 2010 when we started out with the standard diploma, it started changing the whole philosophy, and even the whole schematic, of kids coming to Simmons. Although we are public, we behave more like a charter school because students have to apply to come here. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t take all the high-performing kids. To the contrary, we take a lot of low-performing kids. So, the fact that now they can participate in the career fairs and land jobs is such a big thing.” In 2024, Simmons had the highest year-over-year graduation increase in Hillsborough County.
“If you don’t have the confidence you may need, you need the community to come together to gain that confidence,” Malave commented. “I was homeless for awhile, but I had somebody that helped me when I was younger. If I hadn’t had people come and say, ‘Hey—you CAN do this. Let’s help you get a job. Let’s help you get skills.’ If I hadn’t had that, I don’t know what I would have done.”
