Enterprise High’s Career Tech programs provide opportunities for students

February is Career and Technical Education Month in Alabama and Enterprise High School provides one of the most robust career tech programs in the state. The Sun will be spotlighting those various programs over the next several weeks.

EHS offers 15 different career tech programs – both at the high school and at the Enterprise Career and Technology Center – including agriscience, aviation maintenance, auto mechanics, building construction, masonry, business, computer science, education and training, family and consumer science, graphic arts, health science, the JROTC program, engineering and welding.

These programs aren’t just simply classes; many of them provide hands-on experience in different fields. For example, the graphic arts course has a complete print shop.

ECTC Principal Cami McClenny says the goal for these courses is to get students ready for their lives post high school.

“There are a lot of different benefits for the kids based on what their goals are,” McLenny said. “Our goal is to prepare them for life after high school whether that means directly going into the workforce, going to a two-year school or going to a four-year school.”

A number of the EHS Career Tech programs actually allow for students to become credentialed in a specific field, meaning they will have the credentials to get a job immediately after high school. Others prepare them for college, as well.

“Our engineering program or our health sciences program gives a lot of background knowledge and a lot of the kids come back and say ‘Thank you so much, that really helped when I got to (college).’ That’s a big benefit.”

Another benefit for EHS students is simply having a chance to find out what they want to do in their future.

“We’ll have kids come and take an engineering class and love that and then maybe they take a health science class because they think maybe they want to get into that but after taking the class decide it’s not for them,” McClenny said. “Whey they leave here they’ll have a better idea what they’re good at and what they want to do and so maybe they won’t have to change majors several times over the course of their college careers.”

Graduation rates for students that take career tech courses is 94 percent, according to the state. That number is 11 percent higher than the national average. A study done in Arkansans also found that students enrolled in career tech programs are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in a two-year college, be employed and earn higher wages.

“Overall, we just want to meet the needs of every student regardless of where they are academically or what their socioeconomic status is,” McClenny said. “We want to give every student the opportunity to build skills and make a living for themselves.”

Few schools in the area have as many career tech options as EHS provides.

“It’s amazing and is such a great opportunity for our students,” she said. “We’re constantly looking at our community and the needs of our community to be able to meet those needs.

“We want to know what our workforce needs are, so we can prepare our students to do that.”