TAMPA, Fla. — Throughout January and February, thousands of students from all 32 Hillsborough County high schools have been taking field trips to visit companies across the county.
It’s all part of Future Career Academy’s mission to give students the best opportunity to find gainful employment right out of high school.
On any given day, a bus full of high school seniors will pull up in front of one of more than 100 Hillsborough companies eager to show and tell, like Bausch + Lomb.
“We’re very proud to be a community leader, and we want to open our doors to students that don’t necessarily want to go to the next step of education,” Director of Manufacturing Ken Patten said.
Patten said it's equally beneficial for their company—they always have entry-level positions they’re trying to fill.
“We had really focused a lot of our attention on college graduates, but the workforce is changing. We see it in front of us, and we have to be able to adapt to it and be able to reach out to juniors and seniors in high school,” he said.
Students from King High School got to wear lab coats and safety glasses, walk the production floor and see firsthand what goes into operating a drug manufacturing facility.
“I think it’s really nice how you can start an entry-level job, and then they’ll pay you to go to college,” said senior Maria Collins-Perez.
“A lot of times they prejudge an industry or a brand, and when they walk in and see the types of jobs and career paths that are available in any company that they had no idea about, they are really shocked,” said Yvonne Fry with Future Career Academy.
When the nonprofit isn’t organizing field trips, they are in the classroom preparing students on how to enter the workforce and setting up job fairs.
“If you have jobs, if you have opportunities for our students, we would love to connect,” said Fry.
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