As students returned to school in August, the Columbia Career Center recently opened its doors to its brand new addition for high school students in the Columbia area.
The Career Center is a huge investment for CPS, but is it worth it for students and could CPS have funded something more important? Students at Hickman are grateful to have the career center and think it’s helpful for all three schools to have somewhere where they can take a fun, relaxing class that can be applied in the real world.
“I think some of the classes are fun. I think they’re good for your future career,” Sophomore Tyler Shults said.
Tyler thinks the career center was a great investment for CPS, which allows students to take a simple class with tons of hands-on activities that prepare students for a future career. The career center is dedicated to classes that are normally taught at secondary institutions but are adjusted for high schoolers.
“I think it definitely [gives] a better place for students to take certain classes [you can’t take] at Hickman or Rock Bridge or Battle,” Tyler said.
The Career Center is, overall, a better place to take most classes, like culinary, where there are rooms built specifically for that class.
“I take the bus at 8:40 [to the career center] and I get back on the bus [to get back to Hickman,] Tyler said, “I probably miss like 5 minutes at the start of class…and then like 10 ish minutes at the end of class.”
Most times, Students at Hickman ride the bus to the career center. In order to get there, they have to miss class time going to and from. Having a class in the morning doesn’t cause students to miss a lot of class time; however, second and third hour Career Center classes may require you to miss up to 20 minutes of class both ways, heading to and from. Students have to take into consideration what classes they will be missing to go to the Career Center for a part of their day.
Although going to the career center requires students to miss class time, it is still a nice hands-on experience and gives students a chance to try out activities that can be applied to real-world jobs.
“[Aside from] maybe renovating the Hickman bathrooms…I think it was a good use of money,” Tyler said.
