Students tell meeting STC dual-enrollment helped build job skills, portfolios and early employment

Several students and alumni told a recorded meeting that the South Tech Center program known in the transcript as STC gave them hands-on training, helped them build portfolios for college and careers, and led directly to job offers.

"When I was in middle school, a representative from STC came. They put on a presentation explaining all the options for dual enrollment. To me, it was a no brainer," Commenter 1 said. "If you could come to a school half day and come have fun and learn a trade, why wouldn't you?"

Commenters described dual enrollment as a half-day arrangement in which students spend part of the day at their high school and the other half at STC. "Dual enrollment is spending half your day at high school and then staying half the day here at STC," Commenter 2 said. Several speakers said the longer blocks at STC let them concentrate on a single skill area, build a portfolio and gain workplace habits they later used in jobs or in applications to college.

"Being able to only focus on a whole afternoon really helped with just managing my time. I was able to just focus on 1 thing," Commenter 3 said. Another speaker described STC instructors as industry professionals who taught both technical skills and workplace expectations. "My instructors were really great in teaching those skills and also being a very big inspiration to me because they actually were designers in the field," Commenter 3 said.

Speakers gave concrete examples of career outcomes. One said a workplace asked if they wanted a job and that two weeks after interviewing they began work. Another speaker, who said they began working for a local employer identified in the transcript as Willis Smith, said managers who hired STC graduates have since visited the school and expressed interest in recruiting more students.

Several speakers emphasized cost and access. "The great thing about attending STC is when you're in high school is that it's free. It is so worth it," Commenter 1 said. Speakers also said portfolios created at STC helped with college applications and freelancing or starting businesses — one speaker said dual enrollment "fast forwarded my career" and made them feel prepared to open a salon.

The meeting record presented these remarks during public comments; no formal actions, votes or agenda items linked to the program were recorded in the transcript. Speakers urged eligible students to consider the program as a path to career skills, college application materials and early employment.

Details from the record: the program was described by speakers as a half-day dual-enrollment model, free for high-school attendees, taught by instructors with industry experience, and used by some students to secure jobs or build portfolios for college and careers.