Students Attend Classes at South Technical High School
While the majority of high school students are still thinking about what they want to do after graduation, South Tech students are practicing skills for their career by attending one class every day that provides hands-on experience for what they’ll actually be doing out of high school.
“It’s a high school where kids can take classes such as cosmetology, early childhood, firefighting, health science; different classes like that and once you finish the program you get different certificates on what program you completed,” said senior Chancey Bloodworth, who is enrolled in the cosmetology program.
The program offers programs in over 30 different areas ranging from auto body to fashion design.
“I’ll be going into EMS (Emergency Medical Services/Paramedic). So I will be there from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. and have ride a-longs that we have to do which is going on an ambulance. You’re with paramedics and you watch them, help them, and work with them,” said senior Jackie Harris.
Students enrolled in the tech program must concurrently be enrolled in at least three classes at North High and meet the state requirements regarding number of English classes, math classes, etc. in order to graduate. Even though part of each day is still spend at North taking regular, required classes, leaving school to do more hands-on classes was a big transition and difficult decision for some South Tech students from Parkway North.
“I was scared because I thought I was going to miss out on something here. I don’t get to eat lunch here and that’s how a lot of people socialize, so I was scared that I would have to miss out, but it’s worth not being able to see as many people” said Harris.
Being able to balance the work of the career classes, the work of the regular, required classes, and a social life can be difficult since students in tech school no longer see their friends during lunch and after school and are taking classes that are more concentrated and career focused.
“I would say that my field is pretty hard because it’s like human anatomy, but at a college level because you have to save people’s lives. It takes up about 70 percent of my time” said Harris.
Although the South Tech students are making a huge leap into their future careers, they still learn to balance social life, homework, and other duties that they might have. Students in grade level of eleventh and twelfth are eligible to attend South Tech.
By: Jamie Powell Entertainment Editor