Excel TECC is a window to many different opportunities and career pathways for students. The seed is planted when program leaders come and have presentations for interested sophomores. The process starts in October of sophomore year. Students prepare for about three months, then they interview for a chance at a spot in their program of choice.
According to the Counseling Page, “Excel TECC is a career technical consortium that offers its programs to nine different schools in surrounding areas.”
Excel TECC offers over 25 programs for students interested in so many different fields such as cosmetology, welding, medical fields and more to determine whether they pursue college or head straight to the workforce.
Myles Jones chose the CAD Engineering program. In CAD Engineering they design many different types of architecture.
“I chose my TECC to add more availability onto my resume for the field that I wanna go into and design and architecture directly relate to it,” Jones said.
He plans on furthering his education at college and with his background in Excel TECC, he said he feels he has an advantage over other students.
”I do plan on going to college and majoring in Computer Hardware Engineering and Electronics Engineering,” Jones said. “I plan on either attending Cincinnati or North Carolina A&T.”
Many things motivated Jones for wanting to pursue a higher education.
“I will be a first-generation college student for my family, and I think that for the field I want to go into college is a necessity to go into the higher ranks,” Jones said.
Many people help the students of SHS get the needed information for the programs of Excel TECC. One of whom is Mary Ellen Simecek who helps kids learn about the many opportunities that Excel TECC has to offer.
“We see approximately 100 to 120 students between juniors and seniors who attend Excel TECC each year,¨ Simecek said. “During sophomore year, an Excel TECC representative comes to the high school and meets with all the sophomores, and they are given more information.”
Helping students navigate their choices is hard, but Ms. Simecek tries to help as much as possible to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible over the next couple of weeks.
“Me and Mr. Nowak are to help students fill out the applications in December,” Simecek said. “We will be in the Wellness Center all day. Applications are submitted online to Excel TECC, and they use a rubric to determine the highest scoring students will be offered a seat in the class.”
Getting a seat is not as simple as it seems though. Counselors like Ann Trocchio are a component that determines this as well. They deal with so much more like helping their students with information and making sure they are getting the best fit for them.
“Our role as School Counselors is to make sure that we are getting all the information to the students,” Trocchio said. “Another role we have is to also know what our students’ goals are and to help guide them to a particular program.”
Trocchio said that getting students a spot can be hard due to the competitive nature of Excel TECC due to the amount of seats that are offered to each school, so counselors have to fight for their students to get a chance at a spot in the program of their choice.
Nathan Whitman is one of those who got through plans on continuing with his education from his TECC program of Culinary Arts and plans to attend The Culinary Institute in New York City next year. Whitman hopes to gain more skills and knowledge at the Culinary Institute next year and plans on taking their semester abroad program to learn more about Asian cuisine and is excited to continue his journey in the culinary field.
“I gained a lot of friends and skills, and I was able to go to multiple state competitions and meet a lot of different chefs and [make] connections through my program,” Whitman said. “I think I see [cooking] different, and I take it more seriously than before, and I view it as a bigger industry than I did before.”
