Pathways to Prosperity: Magnets and Career Tech Education

Magnets and career and technical education at Alachua County Public Schools gives students a head-start toward their chosen career paths

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A wide variety of magnets and career and technical education are available to Greater Gainesville students. These programs give students a head start toward a career path best suited to their personal talents and interests, preparing them for life and joining the workforce after graduation.

First, it is important to understand the difference between magnets and career and technical education.

 

What are magnets?

Defining characteristics:

• They offer a specialized curriculum that may include a particular theme or focus such as mathematics, science, technology, communications, international affairs, business or performing arts
• Students must apply and be accepted into these prestigious programs
• Students outside the school’s normal zoning district can attend magnets
• Elementary, middle and high schools can have magnets

 

What is career and technical education?

Defining characteristics:

• CTE provides students with academic, occupational and technical skills, and the knowledge, training and direction to succeed in post-secondary education and/or a future career
• Students must be zoned for a school in order to participate in its CTE curriculum
• There are two types of CTE — academies and programs:
  • CTE academies are more prestigious and require students to apply and be accepted into
  • CTE programs are for the general student population
• CTE is only offered at high schools

About Our Career and Technical Education

At the seven high schools in the Alachua County Public School district, there are a total of 15 CTE academies. In addition, there are 18 CTE programs. Students must live within the zoning district in order to attend a high CTE academy or program. Unlike magnets, they cannot attend CTE outside of their zoning district.

CTE students have access to a career focused curriculum, highly-qualified teachers and outstanding facilities and equipment. Students can earn industry certifications and articulated college credit, participate in student leadership organizations and competitions, run school-based enterprises and work in local businesses.

For just one example, the Academy of Finance at Buchholz High School has a legitimate branch of the Florida Credit Union, called the bobcat branch, operated on campus by students in the academy. Many of the academy’s graduates have gone on to have careers at Florida Credit Union.

Shannon Ritter is the Director of College & Career Pathways for the Career & Technical Education Department at ACPS. She said the district works closely with local employers in key industry clusters. There are 13 total advisory boards made up of industry professionals, who work with teachers to ensure curricula includes real-world applications and the latest industry trends.

The benefit of these partnerships is twofold. Students gain knowledge and soft skills they need and form connections with local employers before they even graduate high school. Local employers benefit from access to a pipeline of local talent, with the ability to hire many students upon graduation.

“Career and technical education programs are all ultimately to help prepare a student for a career. And many times, that means you could go directly into the workforce, but many of our students still go on to post-secondary education. So, they may go on to Santa Fe College or the University of Florida or elsewhere. It’s kind of a mix in every classroom. CTE programs of today are very rigorous, and are preparing you for a career, but also making sure students — if they choose to — are on the pathway to go to college, as well.”

— Shannon Ritter, director of College & Career Pathways for the Career & Technical Education Department, Alachua County Public Schools

Career and Technical Academies by High School

• Buchholz High School
  • Academy of Entrepreneurship
  • Academy of Finance
• Eastside High School
  • Institute of Culinary Arts
• Gainesville High School
  • Academy of Future Teachers
  • Academy of Health Professions
• Hawthorne High School
  • Academy of Agribusiness
• Newberry High School
  • Academy of Criminal Justice
• Loften High School
  • Academy of Automotive Technology
  • Academy of Fire & Emergency Medical Services
  • Academy of Gaming & Mobile Apps
  • Academy of Robotics & Engineering
  • Institute of Graphic Art & Design
• Santa Fe High School
  • Academy of Agriscience
  • Academy of Veterinary Assisting
  • Institute of Biotechnology

Career and Technical Education Programs by High School

• Buchholz High School
  • Drafting
  • Digital Media/Multimedia Design
  • Principles of Food/Nutrition & Wellness
• Eastside High School
  • Digital Media Technology
  • Allied Health Assisting
  • Medical Skills Services
• Gainesville High School
  • Digital Media/Multimedia
    Design
  • Digital Video Technology
  • Journalism and Multimedia
  • Hospitality & Tourism
  • Food Preparation
• Hawthorne High School
  • Digital Design
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Principles of Food / Nutrition & Wellness
• Newberry High School
  • Agritechnology and Agricultural Communications
  • Culinary Arts
  • Digital Design
• Santa Fe High School
  • Television Production Technology
  • Digital Design

About Our Magnets

In addition to CTE, ACPS offers magnets that cater to the needs of academically gifted students in elementary, middle and high school. Each program offers a rigorous, well-rounded curriculum that fosters creativity, problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

Students who live anywhere in the school district can attend a school outside of their zoning district in order to attend a magnet.

Ritter said that Greater Gainesville’s standout magnets are an inspiration and model for other programs around the state.

“We have people come in from other districts, asking, ‘Can we come see your Academy of Finance?’ ‘Can we come talk to the people at your Health Academy?’ We have somebody coming from Pasco County to look at our Academy of Fire and EMS (at Loften High School), because they’re interested in starting one, and they heard that we had a good program. That’s a good feeling,” Ritter said.

How to Enroll in a Magnet School

There are certain requirements students need to meet before they are being considered for a magnet. These requirements as well as videos of virtual open houses, through which families and students can learn more about each magnet, are available at sbac.edu/Page/29448.

Elementary School Academic Magnets

• The Center for Gifted and Talented Studies, Archer Elementary School
• The STEAM Magnet, Metcalfe Elementary School
• Center for Fine Arts, Rawlings Elementary School
• The STEM Magnet, Stephen Foster Elementary School
• Dual Language Immersion Magnet, Terwilliger Elementary School
• Williams Magnet Program, Williams Elementary School

Middle School Academic Magnets

• Academy of Technology & Advanced Studies, Howard Bishop Middle School
• The Lyceum: Center for Advanced Studies, Lincoln Middle School
• Biomedical Mustangs, Mebane Middle School
• Center for Advanced Academics & Technology, Oak View Middle School

High School Academic Magnets

• Eastside High School
  • The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program
• Gainesville High School
  • The Cambridge Program

Eastside’s IB and Gainesville’s Cambridge programs produce graduates that flourish at colleges and universities all over the country, including Ivy League schools, and are home to multiple National Merit Scholars and other academic award winners.

Magnets Making Waves

Check out these bragging points for ACPS high schools’ magnet academies.

• Santa Fe High School

Santa Fe High School offers the Institute of Biotechnology, a career and technical education academy with three main areas of focus –– technology, agriculture and medicine. Just three miles away in the City of Alachua lies Progress Park, a mecca of biotechnology with more than 30 companies that employ an estimated 1,100 people or more with a background in biotechnology. This connection can foster job opportunities and internships.

The program provides education credit for a path to the University of Florida or Santa Fe College. It focuses on the technological application of organisms, as well as DNA, cells and proteins to alter new procedures.

Mebane Middle School in Alachua is adding a brand-new biomedical magnet program starting in the 2022-23 school year, which will help prepare students to enter the program at Santa Fe High School.

• Buchholz High School

The Academy of Entrepreneurship is a distinguished four-year magnet at Buchholz that focuses on marketing, hospitality, business management and entrepreneurship. It is a member of the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education and is a model for similar programs in schools around the country. It is designed to prepare students to enter the real world confident, competent and ready to begin college and a career.

• Eastside High School

The IB Program at Eastside has a demanding curriculum focusing on science and liberal arts college prep. It is one of the largest and most successful programs of its kind –– so much so, that other schools in Florida and across the country have adapted its model.

The IB academic magnet includes college credit courses in English, French or Spanish, social studies, experimental sciences, mathematics and an elective, with options in psychology, music performance, theater arts, studio art or physics. It has grown to include more than 500 students from across Greater Gainesville.

• Gainesville High School

The Advanced International Certificate of Education Program, known as the Cambridge Program, is a rigorous, internationally recognized course of study for academically talented students which focuses on Science, Math, Languages and Arts and Humanities. This academic magnet welcomed its first group of students at GHS in 2004.

 

By Jewell Tomazin