Holton Career and Resource Center is giving high school students the opportunity to earn coursework in a chosen career area, making it possible for them to graduate with a high school diploma and certification.
Denzel Web gets his hair cut by a fellow student. (Staff photo by Ayannah Crawley)
The Career Center offers training in cosmetology, barbering, robotics and automation, early childhood development, and public safety.
The core coursework is taught in high school, and from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. the students can come work on their trade.
The Center opened in 2009, and serves high school students, and people looking to get training in a new trade.
Students get to work with actual clients, and all the money earned funds the program.
“They get a head start on seeing exactly what their potential real world post high school will look like,” said Dan Gilfort, the principal of the center.
“The Early Childhood Education program students are interning off site with actual children in various locations throughout Durham,” said Gilfort. “The robotics/automation students are building robots with specific tasks and abilities much like those you see in numerous tech facilities in RTP.”
Denzell Well is a senior at the Career Center, and is earning his certification to work as a barber. He chose the career because his grandfather from New York was a barber.
“It’s something to do while I’m in college and something to fall back on when I graduate,” said Well, who plans to attend N.C. State University or N.C. Central University.
His instructor, David McMillian, has been a barber for more than 20 years. McMillian saw teaching at the career center as an opportunity to mentor and give back to the community.
“I love the program that we have set up here as far as working with the youth,” he said. “By teaching them a trade and preparing them for the real world it gives them the opportunity to not have to worry about paying for a college education before they can start making some money.”
On a good day, the barbershop serves about 10 clients.
Zuric Dixon, Curtis Woods, Shannon Griffin, and Bryon Thatch work on a project. They are all enrolled in the Career Center’s Robotics and Automation program. (Staff photo by Ayannah Crawley)
“Our daily routine consists of staring off with everyone getting dressed, doing our class theory, a break, we come back out into the clinical floor,” said McMillian. “We do different activities like serving clients, working on mannequins, shaving, and sanitation procedures.”
That exposure “provides a very clear picture and reality for what their futures may hold,” said Gilfort.
“Every student that attends school is not going to a four-year university,” said Gilfort. “The fact that Durham Public School is willing to try to meet so many diverse needs of students dreams is a wonderful notion.”
The Holton Career and Resource Center is a partnership by the City of Durham, Durham Public Schools, Durham County, Durham Parks and Recreation, and Duke Medical Clinic.
“Hard work, no matter the setting, will only be of benefit to you,” said Gilfort said. “Learning does not have to be a passive, sit-and-get experience, you can be active in the acquisition of knowledge and be responsible for where you end up.”
jayne50 says:
Many years ago an all black high school in Asheville,NC started something like this because things were segregated then and the community was looking out for it’s own young people. My mom’s old high school chorus teacher was from Asheville, NC and knew about this program very well. It in my opinion was the forerunner of many Career Centers here in school systems in the upper south. LJ Steele