Collins Sees Major Growth in High School Enrollment

Collins Career Technical Center (CCTC) has seen a thirty-five percent increase in high school enrollment over the past three years as more families nationally see career technical education (CTE) as a real alternative to a traditional high school experience. Nearly seven hundred juniors and seniors from Lawrence County’s seven local school districts are enrolled in one of CCTCs twenty-six career technical programs of study.

This steady growth resulted in the birth of a new construction academy at CCTC. There are now six academies: Construction, Health, Services, Technology, and Trades. These academies are smaller learning communities containing similar programs that share the same core group of academic teachers and intervention staff. This structure makes it easier for a science teacher to teach sound waves as part of an audio engineering lesson or a math teacher to teach geometry as part of framing a wall.

When asked about the growth, CCTC Superintendent Adam Pittis said, “people have caught on that career tech education has something to offer students on any career path. We still have students who go to work in the trades, but we also have students who are seeing success in college.” Rihannon Carter completed the Graphic Design program in 2019 and is wrapping up a double major with honors in Graphic Design and Music at the University of Notre Dame. Skylar Hayes earned his Practical Nursing license in 2022 and is moving on to study pre-med at Marshall University this fall.

Success in college isn’t the only benefit of career technical education; statistically, these students earn more money faster. According to data from the United States Department of Education, students who participated in career technical education saw higher wages in eight years than those who did not attend CTE courses.