Genevieve Fuson, sophomore, has always loved animals and has always lived with them.
“I have 40 animals at my mom’s house, and I have a little pit bull at my dad’s house,” Fuson said. “And I want to be able to learn how to help them.”
Fuson said she hopes to be a vet while working on her law degree, so she is looking forward to attending South Tech her junior year because it will give her motivation to come to school.
South Tech is a free technical educational half-day program available to all students who maintain a 2.0 GPA, 90% attendance and have no disciplinary issues. Students still have to take four classes at their home high school.
“I think I will get better grades and have a better chance of going to my dream college,” Fus on said. “I think that one-on-one meetings can help a lot of students, especially whenever you’re uncertain about something.”
Sarah Rhodes, admissions representative, said In any given year, anywhere from 30 to 40 MHS students attend South Tech. Juniors attend South Tech in the morning and seniors attend in the afternoon.
“Our programs are designed to give you real-world hands-on experience while you’re in high school,” Rhodes said.
During the application season, Rhodes visits MHS once a month to share information about South Tech and to speak to students who have already submitted applications. This is the first year that South Tech is holding one-on-one meetings with students and today was their first visit.
The importance of South Tech has grown in recent years due to the skills gap, Rhodes said. People are retiring from industry jobs such as auto tech construction and this is creating a large opening for young people to join the workforce.
South Tech students are in high demand due to the hands-on nature of the school. Many trade jobs are ready for young people to start working, and South Tech supplies the experience needed for future workers to succeed, Rhodes said.
Students who go to South Tech still graduate on time, Rhodes said.
Gavin Kozdron, sophomore, is passionate about cars and is looking forward to doing the automotive technology, collision repair or welding and HVAC programs at South Tech.
He learned about South Tech from senior friends in the construction programs.
“They both said it’s awesome working. Very hands on, and you meet a lot of cool people,” Kozdron said.
Kozdron said he learned about the meeting through his counselor after he mentioned he had an interest in cars.
“She said ‘hey they have a program at South Tech that you can apply and go learn about how to do all that stuff’,” Kozdron said.
He said he would like to go the South Tech route because it is better to have a certification than to get a college education for something he may not like in the future.
“It’s kind of a backup plan,” Kozdron said.
