Tag Archives: career focus

The New Vocation High School:

An Innovative Campus and Bistro

 NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas—A public school in this Dallas suburb takes hands-on learning to another level.

Students draw blood from teachers to practice phlebotomy. They serve the public as tellers at a campus-based credit union and in a bistro with an omelet station.

In a former roller rink turned barn, students tend to farm animals, including 500-pound steers, while learning about cuts of meat in class. “If I got hired at a family restaurant, I’d know what to do,” said 16-year-old Casey Heinz after a lesson on cooking different types of beef.

The Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced Learning, a $16.75 million campus focused on careers, is what school districts around the country are striving to achieve as more focus shifts to graduates who are skipping college and going right into the workforce. . .

. . . In another area, students wearing smocks check vital signs of patient mannequins. They also spend time at a local hospital working with real patients, such as helping feed them and checking blood pressure. Students who learn in the school’s mock pharmacy also practice in real ones in the area as interns, opening a pipeline for paid work. “They call us every year for pharmacy techs,” teacher Sharon Leon said, adding that students who receive their pharmacy technician certification are workforce ready.

(Read more at WSJ, 6.3.2019, Tawnell D. Hobbs)