Wednesday, March 18, 2020
This story was written on February 20, 2020.
My name is Grant Tritabaugh, and I am currently a senior in the Trades Career Academy (TCA) with De Pere High School. I will be finished with high school very shortly. You may wonder what this program is and how I can finish high school in the middle of my senior year. Let me explain.
TCA is a program within De Pere and West De Pere high schools. It is designed for juniors and seniors to complete high school just like every other student. Students in TCA get the same diploma and will walk across the stage the same day as all the other students.
This is what a typical day looks like: I attend classes, which are held in a conference room located at Belmark, Inc. Most of our school work is done online through a program named Odysseyware. We take all the required courses. I attend class from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. When school is done, I go to my on-site job located at Robinson Metal. We all have trade-related jobs that we may be looking into as careers after high school. I work from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Sometimes I work later depending on how busy we are. All the students in the program are doing hands-on work and learning new things on a daily basis. Some students go to work in the mornings and attend class in the afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Students that are the right fit for this program are young men or women who are willing to work, learn new things, and get their hands dirty. Also, it is a good program for students who have a hard time in traditional classes, need to get away from the big groups of students, and work better independently. Lastly, it is a perfect program for students who are looking to go to a technical college after high school or go directly into the workforce.
I suggest this program to a lot of people. It didn't just change the way I do my schooling, but it also changed the way I look at real life. If it wasn't for this program, I don't think I would be graduating. This program is the greatest thing that has happened for me to be successful in my high school career and being able to move on to the next steps into my life.
—Grant Tritabaugh, senior, Trades Career Academy at De Pere High School, De Pere, Wisconsin