“The Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center is an opportunity for students to learn skills for business and industry, explore different careers, and use their talents. It also opens up doors to things like early middle college where high school students can earn college credits, mentorships and internships, and hands-on opportunities that will help them discover what they do or don’t want to do for a career.
Every student can excel here. It’s an opportunity for everyone. Kids can find a niche based on their interests, and then can explore all of the facets of a potential career through our programs, and that's what makes it special.
I started here in 2002, teaching for 16 years and then becoming assistant principal. I found that this is a place where students really excel: they develop a sense of confidence about themselves and about who they are as individuals. It has opened so many doors for kids and it's just a wonderful place to work. I have kids I taught as preschoolers who are graduating high school, and they're graduating with a sense of knowing what they want to do in life and how they will make an impact on our community.”
- Kathy Dardas, Assistant Principal, Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center
“In the precision machining program at Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, we use tools like lathes and CNC machines to shape metal. I used to work with my grandpa at his hydraulic shop where he would do some machining, and that’s what got me interested in this class. I'm in my second year and I love it. I like doing hands-on activities: we're never in the classroom because we’re always out in the shop, and with the other students in the class, we’re like one big family.
Around this time last year, my teacher found me a job at a machine shop, Dresco Machining & Fabrication, and I've been working there for a year. It’s great to have a paying job where I’m also learning skills that can help me in a future career.”
- Rylee Nemode, Precision Machining program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, student at John Glenn High School
“This is my first year in the cybersecurity program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, and it’s great. It's a lot easier to be myself around a bunch of other people that also like the same things as I do and think the same way that I do. I wasn't sure how I would like it at the beginning of the year, but once I got into it, I loved it. I hang out with one of the people in my class four or five times a week now, because we think the same way and like a lot of the same things. These are my people: I don’t have to hide being a nerd and I can be as nerdy as I want.
I like to learn about computers, and I’ve built a few myself. Sure, it’s cheaper than buying one completed from the store, but I also like learning about all the little things that you can do with computers, both hardware and software. Cybersecurity is huge for everything from the website we use every day to the government protecting sensitive information. In the future, everything you can think of is going to have some kind of cybersecurity implemented into it.
Along with the training and experience, I’m able to get actual certifications for real jobs, all before I graduate high school. The first year you can take three or four, and then you can also take three or four your second year. That’s six to eight different certifications you can gain. Not only does that give you a head start, but in college you’d have to pay for these certifications yourself, where here at the Career Center, you get them all for free while helping you get a job in the field you want.”
–Kyler Klein, Cybersecurity program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, student at John Glenn High School
“With our second year students, we really focus on internships: a long-term placement that is typically a paid position where students can learn every aspect of the business. When we look at doing a placement for a student, it has to tie to the curriculum that they're learning in their career center program. For example, my welding students have to be doing welding-related tasks, not making copies or PowerPoint presentations. Our job is to give students career and technical education.
But internships also benefit the employer, serving almost like a ‘matchmaker’. Our interns come to them already having all the safety and fundamental training. Then, when a company works with us, we look at their processes, requirements, and desired skill sets and then pair them with students we think will be the best fit. We’re very honest with students: if we wouldn't hire them, we don’t send them out. Students represent us, so we want employers working with students who are going to be hireable. The one caveat to that would be with some students who may need a confidence push. They have the abilities, but they just need to hear it from somebody else.
We are always looking for more Bay County employers to work with our students, and they can contact us here at the Career Center if they’re interested. If possible, we like employers to come to the Career Center so they can see the labs and the technology that students are currently working with. A lot of times, we find that employers are kind of blown away that students receive more than just entry-level training.
Work based learning is a way to give every student an opportunity to experience the career path they think they want to go into. The best way to do that is through mentorship, where we pair a student with a complementary local employer company so they can try out a career to see how they like it. For some students, the experience gives the confidence to know that when they graduate, they’re heading into the right career for them. Just as important however, some students discover that a career ISN’T right for them. I had a student who wanted to go into event planning. She was lined up to go to Michigan State and saved herself a lot of time and money.”
— Tiffany Shepherd, Workplace Learning Coordinator, Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center
“In your first year of the Health Technology program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, you get to do five different mentorships around McLaren Bay Region hospital, and I really found that I liked the ER and how every day was different.
I really had no idea I was interested in healthcare until my sophomore year at Bay City Western High School when I was given the choice between taking anatomy and physiology or chemistry for my science credit. I just thought, you know what? Anatomy sounds cool. Let me try that.
And I just love that class. I found myself wanting to actually read the book and learn about it. But while I really liked anatomy and physiology, I had no idea if I would really like healthcare as a career. By going to the Career Center and doing the Health Tech program, I actually got to see different areas of the hospital, shadowing different jobs, and actually seeing what I would like or not like about them. I know other students who found out they didn't like healthcare, and honestly, that's not a bad thing: you learn before committing to a program in college and have to pay for it.
This year, I was also able to take an EMT certification class. We had class on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6PM to 10PM. We did five different 12 hour clinical rides with an ambulance through Mobile Medical Response and got to actually help them out: getting patients into the ambulance, taking vitals, and things like that. After the class is over, I received my state certification and I'm licensed now. Now, we're looking into doing an internship with an ambulance company for my second semester.”
—Olivia McCollum, Health Technology program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, student at Western High School
“Working on cars was something my grandpa did. He passed away right as I was choosing a program at the Career Center, so I picked auto mechanics to do something close to what he was doing. I fell in love with it the first year. It gives me something to do with my hands, fixing things.
The Career Center has given me a really great opportunity to get a step ahead in my career. I'm getting certifications that I need to get a job in the field. I did a three-week internship at Labadie Toyota. I’m also in early middle college where half the day I do this, and then the other half I do classes with Delta College here at the Career Center upstairs.”
–Ty Reinbolt, Auto Mechanics program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center
“A lot of what we do in the Graphics and Printing Communications Program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center is split up into two parts. The first part is digital design, work that is done on computers. The second part is more about production: making T-shirts, banners, photography, car wraps, posters—all the stuff we see every day that we don't realize are made by people.
We also learn a lot about the human brain and how we can manipulate graphics to appeal to people.
One thing I really appreciate about my class is that we start off learning industry standards, like learning how to use Adobe programs that are standard for the graphics industry and what we’re going to use in college as well. It's like I already have two years of experience in my industry before I graduate high school instead of starting at zero on day one.
I've been interested in art since third grade when I won my first art competition drawing Santa Claus. I knew that art was where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, but it was hard growing up hearing a lot of people say that, ‘You can't have a career in art.’
But now I know that isn’t true, especially since I've been doing it for two years now.
And I would say I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm surrounded by people like me, creative thinkers. I feel like I fit in because we’re all something that we love and appreciate, and I think a huge part of creating a career in the arts is being around people who actually appreciate what you can do.
Coming to the Career Center felt like getting a clean slate. My sophomore year was really hard for me, but coming here changed everything. I think that the most important thing I want people to know is that the Career Center is a place of opportunity, and that if you come here, you are having the opportunity to become something completely different. You get the opportunity to change and grow and blossom into something that is amazing and beautiful.”
—Caitlyn Musser, Graphics and Printing Communications Program at the Bay-Arenac ISD, student at Bay City Western High School
