Jefferson Community and Technical College working to attract more students from local schools
Jefferson Community and Technical College administrators recently met with counselors from several Jefferson County Public Schools to talk about the programs that could open up higher education to opportunities to students who normally wouldn’t have as many pathways.
Recently, Jefferson Community and Technical College administrators met with counselors from several Jefferson County Public Schools as part of the college’s push to attract more local students.
Jefferson County Public Schools as a district graduates thousands of students every semester, but only five are currently enrolled in the work and learning programs at Jefferson Community and Technical College.
JCTC offers several work and learning programs such as Bit 502 for students studying information technology and Kentucky FAME for students interested in a career in advanced manufacturing. Jefferson Community and Technical College also offers a dual enrollment program for high school students.
While there are many programs to help students attending Jefferson County Public Schools to be successful right out of high school, Jefferson Community and Technical College is working to expose those students to the options that a post-secondary education can provide.
In addition to Bit 502 and Kentucky FAME, JCTC is working to educate JCPS students on their dual credit classes, and youth apprenticeships among other opportunities as not every program offered by Jefferson County Public Schools is available to every student.
For instance, certain career pathway programs do not exist at the Phoenix School of Discovery, a school for students who have been bullied or have social or emotional disorders. Nancy Breitenstein works there as a counselor and was quoted in WAVE about the importance of exposing those students to their options: “[JCTC] is an answer for [students] because they came to us for a specific reason, perhaps to get some rehabilitation with their social or emotional state,” Breitenstein said, “which is what we’re really good at at the Phoenix. And to be in JCTC, to be down here at this building is exactly, it’s like a prescription for our kids.”
Breitenstein noted the importance of Jefferson County Public Schools working together with Jefferson Community and Technical College, as both organizations want the same things for area students.
For more information about Jefferson County Public Schools, you can visit the district’s website.
For more information about Jefferson Community and Technical College, you can visit the school’s website.