Teaching for Tomorrow: Elkhart Area Career Center offers high school students a head start to their careers

ELKHART, Ind. -- More high school students are opting for career and technical education these days, joining the workforce right after graduation instead of going to college and racking up debt.

ABC57’s Julianne Grohowski presents her special report, “Teaching for Tomorrow,” where she delves into the opportunities that the Elkhart Area Career Center offers for aspiring students.

"I don't know that we can fully prepare students in a Gen-Ed setting, a general education setting, meaning just going to your algebra, English, social studies, science. I think they need more." stated Elkhart Area Career Center Director Brandon Eakins.

That ‘more’ is integrating that aspiring career into day-to-day education. Brandon Eakins oversees the Elkhart Area Career Center, where local high school students go for an immersive education experience in the career field that intrigues them most. 

"It's a much more richer classroom environment, if you will." said Eakins. "Because many times it goes beyond the actual classroom itself.

The Center offers early career practices, such as, sterilizing surgery tools, learning how to extinguish fires, or even scratching the surface at obtaining a law degree at the high school level. Those are some of the growing opportunities now offered to thousands of Hoosier high school students.

Anthony Harl, the state director for Indiana CTE, points to northern Indiana when he talks about the program taking off.

“We are seeing even more and more four-year institutions partnering with high schools to offer dual credits through dual-enrollment programs or pathway programs that include our CTE programs of study,” said Harl.

Per 2020-2022 data, roughly 47 percent of Hoosier students who completed CTE training while in high school went on to pursue additional postsecondary coursework, compared to 53 percent of all Indiana high school graduates.