BLOCK COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) — The Bullock County School District is launching a program to help students explore dozens of career fields at all three high schools.
Brock's Career Academy allows high school students to take advantage of extracurricular classes offered throughout the county.
“This gives us the opportunity to offer a very innovative pathway that many schools don't offer,” said Bethany Gilliam, Director of Career Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) at Brock School. says.
She said they are doing everything they can to turn out career-ready students. Most career-based classes are already available, but not everyone can take them.
“There will be some additions to these programs and additional pathways added,” Gilliam said. “They’re going to be better aligned with post-secondary education…It’s definitely going to be a big change from what it is now.”
In addition to adding public health and radiology research, Hyundai's factory-led boom is also adding heavy equipment and electric vehicle manufacturing to its options.
“That's going to be a big need for new industries, and it's going to be an equally big need for our existing industries,” Gilliam said. “We're definitely looking at all of that as part of the conversation.”
Gilliam told News 3 that school leaders look at several factors when considering new career paths to add to the curriculum. He said one of the factors is labor market demand.
“We want them to have the option of enrolling, enlisting or being employed by the time they graduate,” Gilliam said.
She says there's still a lot of work to do, including setting up bus routes and creating an application process.
“We always want to try to grow and improve, but we can't just pop up overnight,” Gilliam said. “It's going to take time to build this program and get it right.”
High school students will have over 35 different career paths to choose from before entering the workforce.
