High school students in Douglas County who are looking at a
different pathway to careers than through a four-year college
program can participate in the school district’s Area Career and
Technical School.
Students who complete a program and satisfy the competency
requirements will receive a certificate and high school credits,
said Glen March, Douglas County School District coordinator of
technical education.
Students can register as early as their sophomore year, but
preference is given to juniors and seniors, the technical school’s
Web site said.
About 700 students from five school districts attend 18
different programs in 13 different locations, March said.
The vocational school is a part of a five-member consortium
which includes Arapahoe Community College, and Cherry Creek,
Douglas County, Englewood, Littleton, and Sheridan school
districts.
Among the programs offered are auto technology, aviation
technology, Cisco Networking Academy, culinary arts, barbering,
cosmetology and nail technician education.
Several Douglas County students are working in the comprehensive
building trades program, said Bruce Caughey, Douglas County School
District spokesman.
The students are building a house in Englewood, March
said.
About nine-tenths of the approximately 25 students participating
in the building trades program are high school students or those
who have just graduated from high school, said Lynn Glassburg, a
student in the program.
Glassburg, 44, is a single mother and lives in
Monument.
“I want to learn from the inside out how a house is built,”
Glassburg said.
She plans to combine the knowledge she has with her appraisers
and real estate license to buy fixer-uppers, fix them up and then
sell them.
“There isn’t a day [that] goes by that I don’t learn something
cool,” Glassburg said.
The courses offered provide students with a variety of options
to make a career choice.
High school students also get an added benefit: There is no
tuition, March said.
“It’s a good opportunity for students in the district,” March
said. “The district pays for 75 slots. This year we have 109
students. We don’t turn them down.”
About the only thing students have to provide, besides a
willingness to learn and work, is transportation to and from
classes, March said.
The technical school has been in existence for about 30 years,
March said, and grew out of a need to provide technical
education.
“None of the districts had a vocational or career center,” March
said. “Kids need a lot of options, and this provides some for the
non-traditional student.”
For more information about the school visit
www.avs-acts.org.