After high school, it can be tough for students to choose a career path.
HHS college admission counselor Grace Burgess notices this conflict and offers solution to these problems that most students face. A key partnership that Homewood High School uses to meet student needs is through the Riverchase Career Connection Center, or RC3.
RC3, which opened in 2019, simulates a work environment and allows students to explore potential career paths while they are still in high school. Students from Jefferson and Shelby County come to Riverchase Monday through Friday and attend classes on specific areas they are interested in.
Burgess thinks this program can help students in a huge way when planning for their futures.
“Students don’t have to wait until they leave high school to figure out what they want to do with their lives,” Burgess said. “They can start planning that stuff out now.”
To get into the program, students need to go through an interview process.
“We ask them questions like ‘Why do you want to attend?, What program are you wanting to do? and How does it fit your career plan?’,” Burgess said.
While in the program, students earn credentials that help with college or even help them go right to the workforce.
Homewood students take a short bus ride down to attend RC3 during fifth and sixth period. The building is owned by the Hoover City School system and previously served as Pelham Middle School before being purchased in 2017.
TS Nabors, leader of Skilled Trades Academy at RC3, explains all the options that students who participate can explore.
“We have lots of options for our students,” Nabors said. “We Culinary/Hospitality, Health Science, Fire Science, Cyber Innovation, Skilled Trades and Cosmetology.”
Senior Lola Orcutt, who is on the Health Science track, has found the program to be very helpful throughout her high school career.
“It adds value to my school day,” Orcutt said. “I always enjoyed getting to go off campus to RC3. It really feels like a simulated workplace. Every Wednesday we wear professional scrubs to get that extra feel of professionalism.”
RC3 has been beneficial for many students that have participated in it this year. Burgess hopes that the program has the same effect on future students who sign up next year and in years to come.
