Tyner Academy students got a little more familiar with their school's Future Ready Institutes of Health Sciences, Teaching and Learning and IT/Networking on Wednesday. And while the three institutes have some friendly competition among them, the day concluded with Tyner's marching band traveling through the school and leading everyone to the gym for a pep rally.
The event aimed to promote the different institutes, as every student at Tyner must choose to enroll in one.
Hamilton County Schools offers 28 Future Ready Institutes. Each program has a unique focus area, ranging from aviation to welding manufacturing, all with the goal of preparing students for careers after high school.
Tyner's largest Future Ready Institute is Health Sciences.
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"We do a lot of hands-on stuff," health sciences teacher Rebekah Elsea said in an interview. "The other day, we were talking about (the) muscular system in my exercise science class, and we got to do a dissection of a chicken wing because certain muscles and bones correlate to the human muscles and bones."
(WATCH: Tyner Academy throws Future Ready kickoff event)
By the time students graduate from the program, they will be certified personal trainers and will be able to find work right out of high school.
Officials from the Chattanooga Fire Department also spoke to students at the event.
"The Fire Department is not a college track," Allen Green, firefighter and safety educator for the Chattanooga Fire Department, said in an interview. "It's giving them an opportunity to think outside of the college box."
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Fire Capt. Larry King Jr. said Future Ready Institutes give students, especially students of color, more access to career possibilities.
Sometimes, a student's career goals don't always align to the Future Ready Institutes offered at Tyner Academy.
"What we would try to do is broaden their horizons," Principal Tiffany Earvin said in an interview. "For example, just because it's Teaching and Learning doesn't mean you have to be a teacher. There are guidance counselors, there's administrators, there are various fields for teaching and learning. So, we just talk to kids about what they want to become, and then we'll see how that fits in one of the institutes."
(READ MORE: How Hamilton County Schools is combating racial disparities in literacy)
Jaylah Nelson, 15, said she plans to apply what she's learned in Teaching and Learning in a future career as a lawyer.
"I chose teaching and learning because, even though I don't want to become a teacher in the future, it also helps with planning, writing and organizing things out," Nelson said. "I feel like it could help me get better for what I want to do in life, which is being an attorney. So I feel like they helped me build my goal."
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.