More high school students will have the opportunity to receive emergency medicine or welding training through the $3.15 million the Hamilton County Commission allocated to career and technical education programs Wednesday.
The funding will bolster existing technical programs that serve six high schools and create Hamilton County Schools' first "pipeline partnership."
At Hixson High, a new partnership between the school's CHI Memorial Institute of Healthcare and Medical Careers and Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services will give students the chance to receive hands-on training and earn a job with the agency upon graduation.
Renee Parker, Hixson High's lead health science teacher, said the partnership originated from the community's need for more emergency medical service personnel and student interest. She referenced one student who has talked about wanting to pursue emergency services since his freshman year but previously didn't have the opportunity.
In the past, the future-ready institute has tried to give students interested in emergency medicine opportunities through a hospital's emergency department, but it's not the same kind of experience, Parker said. The new class will align more closely to those students' career goals and provide them with direct training from EMS personnel.
"It's really providing more opportunities," she said by phone.
The more the school and its partners can provide students real-world opportunities, the more real-world certifications and licensures will result that will lead to direct employment within Hamilton County, Parker said.
"We are growing our own, and we're reaping the rewards of putting those students first and educating them and keeping them a part of our community," she said.
Though the details are still being ironed out, Parker said the goal is to have seniors obtain an emergency medical technician-basic certification by the end of a yearlong course.
On Wednesday, the County Commission allocated $150,000 for the new program's equipment and classroom needs. An additional $100,000 will be contributed to the program during the next four years through the county's general budget, Mary Francis Hoots, the county mayor's spokesperson, said.
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp said his office picked the investments with the goal of expanding high schools' career and technical programs and better align them with Chattanooga State's Tennessee College of Applied Technology to allow dual enrollment to thrive.
"It's important that students across the county have an opportunity to develop a set of skills," Wamp said by phone. "I don't know that there's anything more profound that we could impart on students in our community than a set of skills, whether that's the career they end up in or not."
Across Hamilton County, there are roughly 30 future-ready institutes, which aim to embed small learning communities at the district's traditional high schools that focus on a variety of industry themes with the goal of preparing students for careers after graduation. Students can apply to attend an institute at a school they are not zoned for through the district's school choice program.
(READ MORE: New class at Chattanooga's Brainerd High trains students to become 911 dispatchers)
Roughly half the funds allocated by the commission will be used to grow programs at the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center, which serves students from Central High and Ooltewah High. The $1.5 million investment will allow for four new classrooms to be created, enabling enrollment to double within the next few years. It will also be used to install an elevator to promote accessibility and upgrade equipment in the advanced manufacturing and architecture and construction pathways to ensure students train on the latest technologies.
At The Howard School, $1 million will be used for the addition of a ventilation system for welding classrooms, which will expand the number of students who can participate in the program. The remaining $500,000 will provide industry-standard construction and automotive equipment to East Ridge High.
Similar to the program at Hixson High, these investments were a result of student interest, Wamp said. He noted the roughly 100-student-long waitlist for Harrison Bay and an East Ridge High teacher who mentioned students' interest in welding when Wamp visited the school.
"This is about meeting students where they're at," he said, "and making sure that we're providing opportunities for students of all types of gift sets and interests to be able to pursue education and even a career pathway that suits their interests."
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.
Staff photo by / Juniors Blake Chambers, left, and Angel Villanueva study a sample under a microscope at the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center on Sept. 24, 2020, in Ooltewah. The Hamilton County Commission voted Wednesday to allocate $1.5 million to the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center to increase enrollment and accessibility.