Ep 68 | What Options Does a Technical College Offer?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The majority of your program, you're going to be working in that field, doing hands-on experiences. So when you come out, you're going to have that confidence. Hey, I can do this and be able to go off and uh and be successful in your field, and you're going to have the industry certifications to prove it.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in It's Gambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. We know that the four-year university isn't the right path for everyone. But how do you avoid feeling like everything else is a consolation prize? My next guest is the principal at George Stone Technical College, a trade school providing quality academic career and technical education. Today he's going to share how the programs offered may be the fast track to financial stability, job security, and personal direction for the next graduating class of high schoolers, veteran educator, Pensacola local, passionate optionist, TJ Rollins. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

All right. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

You really are a veteran, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

I am a veteran of the district, yes. I've been in the of course raised here, military brat, a long time ago, and second grade through 12th here in Scambe County. And came back as an uh teacher and teacher, dean, administrator for 35 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, I mean, that is significant. How have you seen the options for graduates and how they view those options change in 35 years?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Oh, I think now students have more options than they ever had before. And you know, for a long time, especially on the what they used to be called the Votech schools, we call them CTE programs, now career in technical education programs, had somewhat of a stigma of of just being a trade school, as you mentioned. But we're proud of that name as well. A place to go learn a trade if maybe you didn't have the ability to go to college. And so uh that has changed uh drastically, especially in the last 10 years, from what I've seen. And and what we talk about when we talk to students, and what I I feel like is the the best message we can give everyone out there is look at a career path. What is it you want to do? What excites you, what doesn't seem so much like work to you as as it does an opportunity to earn an income doing something you love to do. And then that will drive you as to what type of education and training that you need. I think especially now, the you know, with a few in the in the recent years, lots of baby boomers retiring, especially in the trades professions. So there's so much opportunity for students now and so many more options now to uh pursue really good careers, not just in the academic fields, but also in the trades areas. Last year we served just short of 1,500 students between our career and technical programs and our adult general education programs, because we also offer opportunities for people that want to finish high school through adult high and people that want to get their GED. And over a thousand of those were CTE students and another 462 to be exact, where on the uh adult side, adult education side, a lot of students coming in and out of Georgetown throughout the year.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

That is a banner year that y'all have had.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Absolutely, it was. We hit some record numbers. Of course, we're we mainly look at instructional hours, which is how long students are actually in their seats, because that's what what drives our success and our funding through the state. And so we we had a record year with instructional hours, we had a record year with industry certifications earned. And so we're real proud of that. Of course, industry certifications are the credentials that you get that you know go beyond just local. They're most of them are nationally recognized, some of them internationally recognized. And we had 407 industry certifications earned last year, which for a school with 25 programs, I think that's outstanding.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Wasn't that your highest ever?

SPEAKER_00 4:27

It was our highest ever. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, that's impressive. How does that translate, in your view, to uh real life in the community?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah. Oh, well, industry certifications are that credential that tells an employer, and again, as I said, they're they're nationally recognized. They're not local certifications. These are from companies that uh provide these certification exams nationwide. And and so with any employer, be it local or nationally, is going to look at that credential and and instantly know this person knows what they're doing in this field, or else they wouldn't have this credential. So it's it's extremely valuable in obtaining employment.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

And you mentioned earlier the we were talking about the perception that in the past, maybe a tech school was kind of like, I said in the intro, a consolation prize, right? Like it it was if you couldn't go to a four-year university, then maybe you could do this instead. But how has that changed? Do people still see it that way? Is the stigma changed since the you know, the workforce situation has changed?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah. It's been a gradual change. I've been at Georgetown 12 years now, and uh it's been a gradual change. The perception is much less now you have to go to college than it was, say, 12 years ago. So that's been really exciting. Um, our enrollment has steadily increased. We were really going strong. COVID hit, set us back a little bit, like a lot of other schools, and now we're back even bigger than we were before that. And you know, it's been a gradual change, but it's been a significant change. We talk to high school groups all the time. We have high school groups come over and we provide tours of our facility, and we talk to to parent groups through career fairs, different organizations have gatherings, and the perception is a little different now. I think people see uh the opportunities that are out there because they they see the demand. It's so hard to find an electrician, a plumber. You know, we we do firefighters, EMTs, cosmetologists, culinary arts people, and employers see it and people in the public see it, how much uh in demand these professions are. And and and they also see that they can have a very lucrative career in these areas. That that's the biggest change I see. I think it's kind of shifted just based on job demand and people seeing how successful others are in these fields.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

And like you said, you encourage people to look at their career path. Right. And and I think it from what you're telling me, they're also looking at the actual real life. Right. You know, they're they're seeing evidence out there that, okay, if you want X, we need to do Y. But uh, you've also mentioned that the importance of looking at a career path means not focusing as much on that college experience.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

You know, presumably there are parents listening to this podcast. How would you suggest that parents guide their students to not just think about the college experience, but in fact, life beyond studenthood?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Right. We get a lot of students that come to us at 19, 20, 21 years old that have tried the college experience and it just didn't work out for them. Mostly because not that they couldn't do it, they just weren't interested in what they were doing. That to me is a great example of somebody maybe just not picking the correct peer uh career path for them. And you know, we've all been 18, 19 years old. There's there's trial and error that you're not sure. A lot of people are not sure what they want to do, but we get a lot of students that have done that and they come back and they see, okay, now I get to do something I really enjoy doing. I got a great example for you. And this wasn't a college student that came back, but this is, you know, talk about career path. Young man came to us in our aviation maintenance program, came straight out of high school, and we have it, our aviation maintenance program is two years, and then you're able to test, uh, take the FAA testing and become a licensed mechanic. He did that, got his licensing, also wanted to be in the Air Force reserves. And and I I'm gonna brag on our teachers, two of the three are Air Force veterans, one of them's Navy, but two of the three are Air Force guys, but made that choice, got into the reserves, and through the reserves, he was able to travel all over the world. He's still in the reserves. He went to school for a great aviation uh maintenance company out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Now he's already, and this was about three years ago when he left us, he's already moved up to a supervisor position at a major aviation company in Charlotte and uh that does aviation maintenance on airplanes and still in the reserves. So, and and just loving it. He's been able to travel. We're talking about a young man in his early 20s that came right out of high school. That's so that's somebody that knows what they want to do. And I left out one other thing. He wanted to be a pilot also. While he um started working when he got through with us, he also went and obtained his pilot's license. So now he's a private pilot as well. So he just loves aviation, wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but came in, got the skills, and took off with it, and now is just really, really doing well at a young age.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Sounds like he got to really focus in on the things that are exciting to him and then form that into an actual career.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

That's that's exactly right. And just to give you an example, one thing that is really cool about career technical education, you know, we have students, the normal day for our students that are in uh day classes is five hours a day. If, and I'll use aviation maintenance again, when you walk in the door, you're gonna be talking about aviation until the day, till the hour comes when you walk out. You're not gonna be taking other classes that are required courses that may not have anything to do with it. You're gonna be doing hands-on experiences, you're gonna get top-notch instruction, and you're gonna be earning your way towards uh a licensure that will allow you to work anywhere in the world. And so, not that one's better than the other. You know, I I come from an academic background. I had a master's degree to have this job that I have. And I'm sitting here talking about career and technical education, but that's what we do. And so for some students, that's just a better fit. They get to come in and they get to talk about and do what they want to do all day long. Welding's another one, cosmetology, culinary arts. You come in, yes, you're gonna learn some things out of books, maybe out of you know, demonstrations through other resources, such as internet resources and uh hands-on demonstrations, but the majority of your program, you're going to be working in that field doing hands-on experiences. So when you come out, you're gonna have that confidence, hey, I can do this and be able to go off and uh and be successful in your field, and you're gonna have the industry certifications to prove it.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I was surprised when I looked at the the sheet that you sent me of all your vocational problems or uh programs that there was also business on there. Yes. And there was, I think I saw executive admin assistant and other business programs because when I think of technical programs, I do think of plumber, electrician, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Absolutely. Yeah, we have in the business technology area, we have accounting operations. These people come in and assist accountants, very good career, high demand right now. Uh office administrative assistant, as you mentioned, and we also have medical administrative assistant for those that want to do uh a similar job as office assistant, but in the medical area. So there's a lot of terminology they get to learn in in that area. And these are jobs that are in high demand. You know, you have all these medical centers, you have the different, you know, I guess the ER areas that are not ER anymore. I guess you call them urgent cares and those kinds of things. So a lot of different medical facilities, especially in our area with the high retirement population that we serve, a lot of jobs available if you want to stick close to home in the in the medical area.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

I was also surprised on the website to see that students as young as 16 can attend. Why would a student that's 16 be attending Georgetown?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah. I would say this. Most of our 16-year-olds are students that the traditional high school path did not work out for them. And they've they've been given the parent permission to be able to go and attend the GED or the adult high school program, and they're trying to earn that credential. But we also have, and and getting back to our stats that we talked about earlier, we set a record last year for us, we had 62 dual enrollment students. So these are students that are currently taking classes at high school, and they've uh done well enough where they've got some uh areas, usually it's their junior and senior year, where they have a little flexibility in their schedule, and uh they're able to come over and take one of our classes as their elective. They get a high school credit, and here's where the dual enrollment comes in. They also get a post-secondary credit. You know, and and that brings me to another example of a great welding student we had a few years ago that started out as a dual enrollment student, was in high school, decided to come over for welding, finished up the his senior year, graduated, came over and went to our program full-time so he could finish the full length of the program. Went to work with a local company, was there just a couple of years, and that company got involved with some government contracts over in Okaloosa County. He's now over in Niceville and he's making over $40 an hour. And this kid's only been out of high school about three or four years. Wow. Yeah. And it's just, you know, these are these are just some examples of great opportunities that people don't hear about quite as much, but they're out there.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Well, and you are very passionate about people knowing about these opportunities. If you were to describe why you're so passionate about George Stone, especially being from an academic traditional path background, why? Why are you so passionate about people knowing about this?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah. I I guess it's because I've spent most of most of my career in the high school setting. And it's it's just awesome to see these young people come up, especially as ninth graders and what they how they act and what they look like when they leave as seniors, as far when I say what they look like as far as a vision of their future. But there are a lot of kids that I interacted, I spent eight years as a dean. So I got to work with a lot of students that struggled. And when a student's struggling, that's typically, it seems like, when other things happen that are outside of the learning experience, meaning disciplinary issues. I was also a coach for 18 years. So I I watched a lot of students who excelled athletically, but maybe struggled academically. And we would work so hard to try to help them out as far as staying discipline, working with their parents, keeping them focused to give them the college opportunity so that they could do what they wanted to do, which was play sports. And and but of course, when they mature, they get older and they go to these post-secondary opportunities. A lot of them made the most of it and became, you know, outstanding citizens, which is really good to see. But I still had a heart for a lot of these students that maybe didn't make it all the way through high school, or they did and they, and I hate to use this phrase, but we use it in some of our commercials, stuck in a dead end job. Some of them feel that way and want that opportunity to get a higher level of education, even it's workforce education. And so I've always had that in my heart. So when I got the opportunity to come over to George Stone and directly affect a lot of the same students, and it was so funny because especially my first four or five years, I saw a lot of students that I had just seen, and now they're coming back 18, 20, 22 years old, some even older. I've even had a few people that came over that graduated high school with me in 1982, which was really cool. Just going back, learning something after a career to start a second career, or either just learn some skills in retirement. Uh, I think that's what uh drives me each day and what makes this job a lot of fun. It's so rewarding. And uh, not to mention, we have we have great staff at Georgetown. Our three counselors are just wonderful people. They have a heart for what we're doing. They love going and talking to high school kids. We go to schools all the time. They love being tour guides when we bring these groups over and we walk them around and we typically take them around to all of our programs. We have a chat with them, answer questions, and then we let our culinary arts program show off and give them a good lunch before they go back to school. So it's a good experience. And we get to do it all the time. So it's uh it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

I can see that. I can see it in in your body language and I can hear it in your voice. As far as the programs themselves, if you could paint a picture of what that typically is, are they a two-year program? Or you mentioned a five-hour day class. Can someone have a job while getting their certifications? How does that look?

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yes, to all the above. We have our longest program is aviation maintenance. It is a two-year program, but it does not go in the summer. It's now some of these programs are regulated by other government agencies. The FAA, I won't say regulate, but kind of governs that program because we're a licensed program through the FAA. The testing that comes comes from the FAA, Federal Aviation Administration. And so we we have to follow their guidelines. And that's the longest program. Most of our programs are around a year. So we love the slogan career in a year. We've been using it for many years. We didn't make it up. It's actually used statewide at some of the most of the 48 technical colleges in the state of Florida. And so we're really, we're really proud of that that students can come in knowing somewhere around a year, up to two years if you're in aviation, well, but but you get your summers off with them. You can you can go through and you can get the industry credential, you can finish up, get a completion certificate, and go to work in the field. And so I think that's attractive for a lot of people that aren't looking for a four, two or a four-year academic experience. Now, a lot are. So that's where that career path comes back in. You have to know what career path you're pursuing and to put yourself in the right program. But we have students of all walks of life, all different ages, just about all of our programs, except some of those regulated programs, offer part-time positions. So you can come in and maybe you only go to school two or three hours a day, or you can work that job or tend to other things that you have to do. We have part-time, we have full-time students, we have day classes. Some of our programs are day and night classes. Our day classes, actually, all classes go 25 hours a week. So if you're a day class person, you're typically going to go five hours a day, Monday through Friday. If you're an evening person, they go six and a quarter hours a day, but they only go Monday through Thursday because we don't do night classes on Friday night to try to accommodate people's schedules better. We're very flexible, and you know, our all of our classes are face-to-face. We don't do online instruction because we feel like in this, in these areas, we need those hands-on experiences. So we we need you here, but we're very flexible. We have part-time and full-time students.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

And scholarships?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Scholarships and grants. First of all, grants, we're eligible for Pell Grants. Uh, we have many students that take advantage of that, the Title IV government grants, VA students, veterans benefits, local scholarships. We have, first of all, at the state level, we have what's called the open door grant, which is now we use a portion of it called the Last Dollar Grant. What that means is you can come in, and most of our programs qualify for it. They have to be high demand, high-wage programs, and so all but a couple of our programs qualify for that. You can come in, we look at what you are able to pay for the program. You fill out the FAFSA form, similar uh to what you would do for financial aid, and we we see how much you qualify for, and the last dollar grant picks up the tab for the rest of it. So if you can only pay a small portion, they're gonna pick up the rest of the tab. We have a recent senior scholarship. Seniors, current seniors, hopefully some of them or their parents can hear this, and we talk about it all the time when we have groups. If you're a recent graduate of a Scambia County public high school, we will pay for your first year. Now think about what we said a few minutes ago. Most of our programs are career in a year. So for some programs, we're paying for the whole program. For others, most of the program. And that recent senior scholarship is a really cool deal. And we're able to offer that as a school. Again, it all starts with the FASFO. We have to have you fill out that that form, that the application for financial aid that all of the high schools I know are really encouraging students to do because it's really helpful for them, whatever their post-secondary experience is, to get that done. But yeah, we're we're excited that we're able to provide that recent senior scholarship, plus we have the the last dollar grant, and then you have Pell and Gay. So a lot of opportunities, whatever your financial situation is, does not matter. We can work with you and help you out.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

So is that a senior scholarship program, is that can you have too high of an income for that? Or does it is there, is it a low threshold? Is it an income threshold?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Right. What we do is we look at what's called the EFC, and I don't want to get into too much financial aid terminology because we have we have a department that's that are experts in that, but I would encourage everyone just to come talk with our financial aid coordinator if they're interested in that. Uh the EC is the expected family family contribution, used heavily with Pell Grants, but we'd look at it, we can look at a different threshold. We don't have to follow the exact same path with that, but we do have to show some sort of need, which you know for most people there is a need. And so we have a lot of students that are on that scholarship. And between that, the last dollar and the Pell Grant, we have a lot of students that Because of the Pell grants, will actually have a little bit more than they need for just tuition, which really helps with living expenses and things like that. Gas, food, all that kind of stuff. When you're a young person going to college, it's, you know, it's a struggle for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

But how incredible that that program is there and that it covers the majority of the time needed to complete a program at Jorstone. I can see why you want everyone to know about this because I'm thinking to myself, for the student that isn't sure about their direction in life, but maybe they just need more time. And so they could get a certification. They could have a career that pays well. And then later, if they decide to go to a four-year university, maybe they are in an employment situation where that employer would pay for that advanced degree. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

And that's another thing. All of our programs have articulation agreements with a higher level education, either the state college or universities. The state of Florida, as a matter of fact, has an articulation agreement system set up. And one area we haven't talked much about is our IT programs. We teach computer systems and information technology, cybersecurity, network support, and network administration. And so these are four outstanding programs. A lot of our students go straight to work, but a lot of them use those hours and articulate to a higher level because they want to get that degree in the field. So that works out really well. So that that's that's just another one of the many opportunities. I think I've left out maybe criminal justice. We have law enforcement and correctional officer programs. Uh again, those can articulate to uh areas with AS degrees and BS degrees in those fields. We have firefighter, we have EMT programs. Um, so and then of course automotive service and collision. Um, all of these programs, you can articulate to at least an AS program somewhere, um or or you can go to work and get those industry credentials and go to work. I do want to get in one more story about one of our automotive service students. This was a student that came straight out of high school. And with this particular field, they're called ASE certifications, automotive service excellence certifications. And anyone that you see, if you go to a uh a dealership or you go to a garage or whatever that has a patch that says ASE master mechanic on it, which most of them do, I would look for that, by the way. But that means they've at least passed it's uh there are eight different certification exams for all the different things brakes, transmissions, air conditioning, electrical systems, all these things. And so this particular young man came in, he was only in that that program's a little over a year, got all of his eight ASC certification exams done in that time with us, and became a master mechanic when he graduated, which is really unusual. For students to be able to get those certifications while they're in the program. A really good student can usually knock out four or five.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

And he did all eight.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

And while in high school.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

While in high no, no, after he graduated high school. Came to us. This wasn't a dual enrollment student. He came straight from high school, but uh and he went and opened a shop over in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and uh actually went to work at a shop there and currently moved over to Foley and opened his own business. And this is a student that's only been gone from us about four years. Wow. You know, we're we're talking about a 23, 24-year-old with his own automotive service business. He's a master mechanic. The sky is the limit. Because I think we all know because we've taken our cars to garages, that's that's a pretty lucrative career. And if you know what you're doing and you do good work for people, what do they do? They come back. They come back. And there's one other point that I just thought of, I didn't think about before, is in all of our programs, these industry certifications that I keep talking about, some of them can get a little expensive. Uh, aviation's one example. By the time you go through, because the FAA has a real rigorous system for testing, you have to do written examinations, and then after you pass those, you have to do what they call oral and practicals, where you actually go one-on-one with an examiner, and he might say, take that engine apart and explain to me what you're doing. I mean, it's it's that intense. Well, it's usually around $1,300 to $1,500 by the time you pay for all the written exams and the orals and practicals. We pay for all of our students. We pay those, we pay for those exams. And so that's something I think is really unique that we offer. When I talked about the student with the ASEs, most of those are a little over a hundred bucks a piece. When you talk about eight of them, it gets expensive. He didn't have to pay for any of them. So it's it's really nice to be able to offer that opportunity for students to be able to help them with those industry certifications as far as finance and and preparing them to take them. And it's so rewarding to see the results after they get through them.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

That's incredible. That is amazing. I'm so glad that we were able to highlight this program because I think a lot of parents want to present the best options that are fit for their kid, but they often don't know what to do. And so sometimes it becomes a no option situation or becomes a hand-me-down option situation where they are handing down the same idea that worked or maybe did not work for the parent and they just don't know what else to do. So this is such a great bit of information. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

All right. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.