Caledonia High School junior Haley Hicks has dreamed of being a nurse since middle school.
With no hands-on experience, the 16-year-old decided to take allied health, a two-year program offered through Caledonia’s vocational program. The decision paid off in an unexpected way. After her first year of allied health, Hicks realized she didn’t have the stomach to be a nurse.
“It taught me what exactly a nurse does,” she said, “and I really don’t want to give shots.”
However, Hicks still wants to be in the medical field, to help people. Over the summer, she switched her focus to physical therapy.
“You don’t have to give shots and you don’t necessarily have to deal with sick people but people who have broken bones,” she said when explaining the switch.
So for her second year in allied health, Hicks has a new purpose and a focus.
Need for vo-tech growth
The Lowndes County School District has approximately 150 students enrolled in its six vocational programs. The programs are two years long and open to students in ninth to 12th grade.
While each of the district’s three high schools — West Lowndes High, Caledonia High and New Hope High — offer vocational classes, no one school offers the same program as another.
Caledonia offers building construction and allied health. West Lowndes offers business management and masonry. New Hope offers robotics and auto mechanics.
LCSD Superintendent Lynn Wright would like to see the number of county vo-tech students rise. The fact that a student at one high school cannot enter a vo-tech program offered at another is keeping numbers down, he said. Wright feels that is a disservice to students and the community.
“The industry needs that we have, it’s critical that we step up and do our part,” Wright said. “We’ve got all this industry here and we’re one of only three districts in the state that don’t have a career tech center.”
For several years, Wright has been a proponent of building a centrally located vo-tech center for the district.
Earlier this year, Lowndes County residents voted down a proposed $47 million bond issue that would have funded, among other things, a $14 million vo-tech center on Lehmberg Road. While 52 percent of people voted for the bond, the issue needed 60 percent.
Still, Wright hopes to be able to continue with plans for a vo-tech center. During a school board meeting this month, the board, despite not knowing how much the center will cost or how it will be paid for, voted to continue with a modified version of their capital improvement plan.
Dealing with limited options
James Thomas, 17, is a junior at West Lowndes High School. Thomas is in his second year of masonry. When he graduates, he plans on attending Itawamba Community College to study diesel mechanics.
Thomas wishes he could have taken auto mechanics instead of masonry. He feels the district needs a career tech center so each student can find what he or she is talented in.
“Maybe their gift is not in auto mechanics,” Thomas said. “Maybe their gift is in wood work. They should be able to take wood work, not auto mechanics.”
Thomas, who has an after school job laying concrete, said taking vocational classes is a way to give students a “backup plan.”
“Sports aren’t going to always last and this makes good money,” he said.
LaFredrick Yates, 15, is also in his second year of masonry at West Lowndes. Like Thomas, Yates said he wants to be a mechanic when he grows up. However, since he can’t take auto mechanics, Yates said he would take masonry again next year.
Yates’ teacher, James Gillis, feels the sophomore is an excellent student and would excel at auto mechanics.
“He enjoys working with his hands. He’s good at stuff like that,” Gillis said.
Wright said students like Thomas and Yates are why the district needs a vo-tech center.
‘Give them a choice’
Caledonia sophomore Ashley Artwood said taking allied health helped narrow down the right medical field for her. Artwood wants to be a nurse but doesn’t know what area she wants to work in. While she is still trying to determine where she’ll be the best fit, thanks to allied health, the 15-year-old now knows what she does not want to do.
During the student’s first year in allied health, they visit local nursing homes to learn about communicating with patients.
During that experience, Artwood decided being a nurse in a nursing home wasn’t the right fit. This school year, the second-year students will begin working in local hospitals for their clinicals. Artwood said she thinks that will help her decide if she wants to work in the emergency room.
“I didn’t really like the nursing home that much but I think I’m going to like the hospital better because I want to work in the emergency room,” she said. “I think that will help me out if I want to do it or not.”
At New Hope High School, STEM teacher Susie Oglesby said Artwood’s experience is why vocational programs are important. Oglesby said her STEM classes — also known as science, technology, math and engineering — are a “pathway,” meaning she teaches students before they choose whether to continue with regular classes or to enroll in the vocational program.
If the district had a career tech center that offered a multitude of classes, Oglesby said she is confident more students would enroll in vo-tech.
“If we don’t train these kids with some type of skill, they have nowhere else to go if they don’t go to college,” she said. “I feel it’s important we give them a choice and if they don’t have that option, then they may not pick the right career path because a lot of them, they go different ways and they quit.”
She added, “Not everybody is college bound.”
Caledonia High School assistant principal and coach Andy Stevens agreed, saying vo-tech is sometimes the only option for students who aren’t planning on college.
“Not everyone is going to be a doctor or a lawyer,” Stevens said, “and it gives them different avenues to pursue to earn a living.”
Wright, who earns $118,000 a year as superintendent, said one of his former students is earning more money as a welder than he is.
By not offering as many vocational classes as possible, Wright said students are missing out.
“It’s just so many opportunities that we could provide for our students,” he said. “And that’s our job, to prepare them and offer them as many opportunities as we can.”
LCSD Vo-tech stats
■ Approximately 150 students are enrolled in vo-tech courses at LCSD
■ Caledonia High: 49 students
■ West Lowndes High: 32 students
■ New Hope High: 74 students
New Hope courses:
■ Robotics
■ Auto mechanics
Caledonia courses:
■ Allied health
■ Building Construction
West Lowndes courses:
■ Masonry
■ Business management
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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