TIFTON — Education is changing in Tift County with the ribbon cutting and grand opening of the Tift College and Career Academy at the Tift County High School on Oct. 25.

The event opened the newly constructed wing of the high school up to tours after the ribbon cutting. Attendees were able to look in on classrooms and workshops where students were receiving hands-on training in a variety of career pathways.

The College and Career Academy program was created in 2011 as a way for schools to partner with area businesses and industries to train students to fill jobs where there was a lack of qualified workers, benefitting both students and industries.

Tift County was awarded a grant of $3.1 million in March 2017 for the construction, which is almost completed.  

Craig Matthews, Tift County Career, Technical and Agricultural Education director, heads up the TCCA.

“When we first started talking about the Tift College and Career Academy with our community, we used two words a lot: partnership and innovation,” he said. “That’s what really describes what Tift College and Career Academy is.”

The TCCA contains two new agricultural labs, three new ag classrooms and offices, a veterinary sciences room, five new healthcare science rooms, two new healthcare science labs, a cosmetology lab, computer science lab, business education lad, graphic design lab, mechatronics classroom and lab, offices and conference room.

Additionally, the program has new equipment for many of the labs, most of which were paid for through grants.

“We have 36 different pathways for our students to choose,” Matthews said. “Those pathways cover a lot of different careers. It’s incredible the amount of support we have to be able to offer that many pathways. You won’t find anywhere around us that offers that many pathways for their students. We’re looking at adding more pathways as we go.”

Those new pathways include architectural drawing the design, business accounting, diesel mechanics pathway and a custom educational pathway to keep teachers in Tift County.

Tift County High School Principal Kim Seigler said she hopes the TCCA gives students a head start on their futures after graduation.

“Students need a plan and preparation for what comes after graduation,” she said. “Our College and Career Academy promises to offer our students unprecedented access to careers. Not to just study them, but to have hands-on, real life experiences in a career field to to acquire skills that are vital for success in today’s marketplace before they graduate.”

School Superintendent Patrick Atwater said that the TCCA is the result of the hard work and support of many.

He said that the TCCA is a multi-jurisdictional program that will be able to accept students from other areas.

“In Tift County we currently have close to 500 students from surrounding counties that choose to come here for the quality of education that we offer,” he said. “The TCCA is no exception to that. We have written it so that when we are prepared we will be able to receive those students from surrounding counties that may not have the blessings that we have in Tift.”

Dr. Tom Mark, CEO of the Tift College and Career Academy, welcomed the attendees, many of whom were educators.

“We all come to work each day with the goal of doing something that will make tomorrow a little bit better,” he said. “College and Career Academies across the state endeavor to make that happen by creating new and innovative programs that allow students to gain valuable experience in internships, job shadowing and apprenticeships.”

Carol Smith, chair of the TCCA Board of Directors thanked the board and the local partnerships that are crucial to the program’s success.

“This training and experience will lead to full time career employment, a step towards eliminating the skilled worker deficits we’re currently experiencing,” she said. “Tift College and Career Academy is developing a trained workforce for our local businesses and industries, thus becoming an economic engine driving the growth of business and industry here in Tifton, Tift County and the surrounding areas.”

Representative Clay Pirkle gave the invocation and pledge.