Dusti Hayes, a senior in the Computer Networking and Cyber Security program, has plans to go on to Urbana University to get a four-year degree — and maybe an even a PhD — after she graduates.
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“When I first got here, I knew nothing. I didn’t know anything about computers. I barely knew anything from a CPU to a motherboard,” she said.
She said because she made the choice to go to CTC, she could start working if she wanted to after graduation — either way, she’s saving time and money.
Hayes and a group of three other students showed Davidson nearly all of the school’s trade programs, from veterinary science to auto body. Davidson visited the school in part to learn ideas from CTC to improve the workforce development that the school offers the community.
“You look at the growth rate, particularly here in Springfield — the amount of investment that’s coming here and one of the big ways that they’re attracting this work force is the career ready workforce,” he said. “You look at the pipeline — it goes all the way down to grade school. When you talk to people who are looking at economic development and locating, they’re looking at third grade test scores.”
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Logan Moyer, a junior in Health Occupations/EMT, said he wanted to express to Davidson during his visit how CTC allows kids to reach their career ambitions — his is to become a trauma surgeon.
He could’ve taken a lot of paths to get to that point, but he felt by enrolling the health occupations program, he’d get there much faster than other kids his age.
“The graduation rates are actually higher for CTCs than it is for a person that would go to regular high school,” Moyer said.
Riley Baker, a senior in Early Childhood Education and Care is looking forward to graduation in the spring. She said she feels like she’s more than prepared for the future because of the training she’s had at CTC.
“We get like 800 hours in the rooms with the kids and at Ohio State University, they’re only getting 600 [hours],” Baker said.
It was said a lot during Davidson’s visit — career tech is changing the way Springfield readies the next generation of workers.
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