Worth, Tift counties awarded grants to open college and career academies

ALBANY — It took Dougherty County four years and two votes of its School Board to finally approve the Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy late last year. Tift and Worth counties may have learned by watching that sometimes tortuous process.

Thursday afternoon, the Technical College System of Georgia approved three grants of $3.1 million each to establish college and career academies in Tift, Worth and Chattahoochee counties. The initial grant money will be matched with local funding to support startup costs, construction and initial staffing.

Not bad for first efforts.

“Many of Georgia’s current and future employment opportunities require some form of education beyond high school,” Gov. Nathan Deal said. “To meet this demand, we are broadening access to postsecondary education throughout the state for the fields in high demand.

“Georgia’s College and Career Academies bring together the resources of school districts and the technical college system to effectively prepare students to enter the workforce or pursue other options in higher education. In this effort, TCSG is working toward long-term educational goals and forging innovative partnerships that will serve many of Georgia’s students for years to come.”

Two of Georgia’s technical colleges will partner with local education systems to establish the academies. Columbus Technical College will partner with the Chattahoochee County School District and Columbus State University to create the Chattahoochee Valley College & Career Academy.

Tift County Schools will partner with Southern Regional Technical College of Thomasville to launch the Tift Valley College & Career Academy in Tifton. The Worth County School District will also partner with Southern Regional Technical College to establish the Worth County High School College & Career Academy in Sylvester.

“Georgia’s students deserve every opportunity for academic success, and with the creation of these new College and Career Academies, we are one step closer to ensuring all students have access to these world class learning institutions,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said. “These school systems have embraced innovation in the classroom, bringing business and community leaders together to truly unleash their students’ potential to build a workforce second to none.”

“We congratulate these communities and look forward to helping students benefit from these new academies,” said TCSG Commissioner Gretchen Corbin. “The academies are a significant factor in the incredible growth of the Move On When Ready dual enrollment program, which saw more than 17,000 high school students receive credits at our colleges last year and includes more than 14,000 enrolled this fall semester alone.”

According to Cagle’s office, over the last decade, no Georgia community has consistently had more high school students dually-enrolled with a technical college than Tift County. After several years of planning, the stakeholders of Tift County, Georgia decided to create Tift College and Career Academy (TCCA) as a “school within a school” academy inside Tift County High School.

The mission of TCCA states that it will be the economic engine of the Tift County area, preparing students to succeed in a globally competitive workforce that will positively impact the economy of Tift County.

The Georgia College and Career Academies concept partners local school systems with the state’s technical colleges, other post-secondary institutions, and local businesses, enabling the development of high school and college-level programs that train students for quality, in-demand jobs.

The specified training for students is attractive to area businesses and communities prosper from the highly-trained and skilled workforce. There are now 40 college and career academies in Georgia.