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Thursday, May 9 saw a signing day at Simmons Career Center. These signings weren’t to commit to play sports at colleges, they were for real-world jobs.
The Future Career Academy focuses on connecting students to 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 business partners.
As a result of Future Career Academy initiatives, graduating seniors have been educated about the jobs employers in the region offer and the students have been connected with companies that have the kinds of jobs these new graduates want.
For the last few weeks, seniors have gone through the job search and interview process. On this day, four were signing, and Simmons students and staff came together to celebrate these successes.
“The Future Career Academy does a wonderful job of informing our student population what opportunities are available in our city,” said Rick Lott, former Mayor of Plant City and current Chair of the Future Career Academy Board.
The Academy teaches students how to write a résumé, how to interview, and how to get the right job for them. “Today is just wonderful,” said Lott. Others are still going through the process, but the leaders of this program hope joining the signing will be inspirational to the other graduates still interviewing so they will keep moving forward and not get discouraged.
“This is a huge event for us,” said Stephen Morey, President of the Plant City Economic Development Corporation (EDC). “One of the main tenants of the EDC is our support of workforce development and the Future Career Academy. So, you know that the kids taking these jobs today is what makes our current employers strong. It allows them to stay and keep growing here in Plant City. But it doesn’t stop there because when companies from outside Florida that are looking for a new home see a strong work force, it makes them want to move to an area.
Daniela Villanueva obtained a job with Baycare as a transporter at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City. “I want to say that I really am grateful for the staff members at Simmons,” she said. “They really helped me out a lot with getting into my career and being open minded—especially my principal Mr. C. He made sure I knew he was on my side. He made me never give up on what I wanted to do, and he kept pushing me until I got my job. I really want to thank him for that, and I’m so glad I got the opportunity.” After six months as a Baycare employee Villanueva is eligible for tuition reimbursements. She is learning more about the medical field as she works and intends to pursue further education to one day work as a neonatal nurse.
Alex Garcia signed with Publix. “Something I’d like to do in the future is probably switch over to the corporate side,” he said. “I’m very grateful to have this opportunity for this program. There are a lot of great things that come with participating in this event. They’re very helpful people. I really like all the teachers here—they pushed at first and I didn’t want to participate, but that’s what I love about them—they push other students to do great things and they partnered with the FCA. It’s really amazing what they do for kids.”
“In my future I see myself teaching,” said Andrea Reyes. “I had the opportunity to talk to people from HOST [Hillsborough Out of School Time].” HOST will train Andrea to give her invaluable training to be a teacher. “They work with Hillsborough County and they have opportunities for teaching after school with no experience needed,” Reyes added. While she works and gains hands-on experience in teaching, she is going to take night school classes at Hillsborough Community College to work toward a degree in education.
In addition to the four signers that day, others have been, and continue to be hired from Plant City and from high schools throughout Hillsborough County. More than 150 graduating seniors in Hillsborough County have been hired. More are daily added to that number.
“This program is unique and special,” said Morey, referring to the partnership between the Future Career Academy, Hillsborough County Schools, and companies in the Tampa region. “It has spread county-wide and others talk about it, but it started in Plant City.”