EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part II in a three-part series exploring how Mount Vernon High School is preparing students for life after graduation. Part 1 was published on July 21 and is linked here. Part III will be published on July 23.
MOUNT VERNON — Knox County high schoolers can get a head start on a career before they graduate through a new state program that brings college-style dual credit to the trades.
The OTC+ program is a state initiative that allows high school seniors to take free adult education classes at an Ohio Technical Center (OTC). Funding flows through state and federal Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
Like College Credit Plus, students earn both high school credits and industry-recognized credentials — but instead of college courses, the focus is on workforce skills.
Knox Technical Center (KTC) is the adult education (post-secondary) branch of the Knox County Career Center. KTC focuses on adult learners while the career center focuses on the high school population.
Ohio Technical Centers provide post-secondary education through a career center. Knox Technical Center is one of 49 OTCs in Ohio.
Knox Technical Center is one of 49 OTCs statewide offering the program.
“We’re currently partnered with Mount Vernon, East Knox and the career center,” said Amy Thompson, financial aid coordinator with Knox Technical Center. “We are working on expanding contracts with other schools.”
Thompson said the program fills gaps that the career center’s high school programming cannot always address. Public safety training, for example, is available on the adult side at KTC, but not through the career center.
“We’re just providing opportunities that seniors didn’t even know they had,” she said.
Christine Keaton, career readiness advisor at Mount Vernon, said that’s the cool part of the partnership.
“I am always voicing what I know our students need, but KTC is the one that is in the industry and knows how to plug the holes,” she said.
“It’s not necessarily that we’re targeting a non-college [path]. It’s a real cool hybrid that brings them together.”
Tied to in-demand occupations
When Keaton and Thompson first explored OTC+, the state’s parameters were still taking shape. They learned that some programs — cosmetology and nail technology among them — were excluded because the state does not classify those fields as in-demand occupations.
“The state doesn’t recognize them as an in-demand field because they see them as bountiful. (Those students) are always placed and they’re always working,” Thompson explained. “So we lived and learned, and transitioned and looked at other programming.”
Currently, OTC+ includes three programs: public safety, phlebotomy, and NATCEP (Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program).
KTC will launch medical assisting this fall.
NATCEP is the state program that oversees CNA (certified nurse assistant) training and testing. CNAs were formerly known as state tested nursing assistants (STNAs.)
Solving the Tetris scheduling problem
Keaton said students often still need a math, English or elective credit their senior year, making scheduling OTC+ classes difficult.
“When we said we wanted to do these programs, we said, ‘You can’t have them until 11.’ Then we said, ‘You can’t have them after 2:30 because they have to go to football,’” Keaton said.
“That was a real Tetris problem because they have to have a certain amount of clinical hours and a certain amount of training hours.”
KTC responded by scheduling classes from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It built a calendar tailored specifically to high school seniors, rather than integrating them into existing adult classes.
“If they were struggling with content, there was help and support there for them. We’re offering it during the day, so if a student is in a sport, they can still participate,” Thompson said.
Age and driving among the hurdles some students face
Because KTC is a post-secondary institution, age requirements added another layer of complexity. Lou Shultz, KTC improvement coordinator, said most programs require students to be 18.
“They can’t get in a fire truck or squad and drive until they’ve got a driver’s license and be 18,” she said. “It gets tricky.”
However, Thompson said there is some “wiggle room.”
A student can begin a course at 17 and turn 18 by the time clinical rotations begin. Or they can complete coursework and sit for a certification exam after reaching the age requirement.
Students who complete EMT and Firefighter 1 training in high school can enroll in KTC’s adult Fire 2 class after they turn 18. Thompson said scholarship funding is available to help cover that cost.
“Surprisingly enough, the driver’s license is the harder piece to make sure they have,” Thompson said.
To help students clear that bar, Mount Vernon City Schools secured a grant to support driver’s education. Three teachers completed driver’s ed training, and the district partnered with Precision Driving for the road instruction.
Preparing for a successful career
Jaxon Lester, Renay Davidson and Mahayley Laverick are among the inaugural class of 25 who graduated June 30.
Lester chose public safety, basic fire and EMS, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“My dad was a career firefighter, so I was growing up seeing the firehouse. And my older brother ended up being a firefighter as well,” the East Knox graduate said.
He said OTC+ jump-started his career because it helped him balance sports with gaining knowledge, maturing and realizing how the real world is going to be.
“I’m fully certified and everything, I just have to get my paramedic. So I could get a full-time job right now,” he said.
Davidson and Laverick were among six students in the phlebotomy program.
They first discussed taking the adult program as Mount Vernon sophomores. By their junior year, OTC+ was available for seniors.
The duo graduated with certification in May, although Davidson’s was not valid until she turned 18 in June.
“Now we can just go and work right out of high school and get paid a good amount of money,” Davidson said.
Laverick agreed.
“It just gives you a foot into the medical field. You can basically get free certification,” she said.
Both grads started sending out resumes on July 1. Davidson plans to enroll in Central Ohio Technical College’s nursing program in the spring, while Laverick hopes to become a radiologist.
“Phlebotomy is just going to be my foot in the door. I’m going to start working at a hospital,” Laverick said. “Normally if you work at a hospital or a clinic, they’ll pay for your college tuition.”
All three praised their instructors.
“They’re all in a career; they’re going to teach you stuff you need to know,” Lester said. “They’re not going to tell you something they themselves can’t do; that’s very respectable to me.”
The girls credited instructor Bridget Lewis, an experienced phlebotomist, with patience and varied teaching approach so everyone learns.
The Knox County Area Development Foundation’s Work Dev program identified health care and manufacturing as top needs in the county. OTC+ offers a solution to the health care and public safety path. Knox Pages will explore the electrical apprenticeship in a subsequent article on addressing manufacturing workforce needs.
