Orange County Schools held a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new technical college in Eatonville on Friday, May 10 that promises a number of courses for adult learners.
The Orange Technical College Eatonville branch is located next to the new Hungerford Elementary School in the town.
Karen Castor Dentel represents the Eatonville community on the school board. She said the program will offer a variety of programs to support adult learners in the area.
“We have a welding shop, we are going to have electrical, plumbing apprenticeships where students can earn and learn at the same time,” said Castor Dentel. ”We'll be using it also as a way to train future Orange County public school employees.”
The new campus will also offer preparatory courses for 911 telecommunications officers and paraprofessionals in K-12 settings.
Castor Dentel said she hopes the campus can be an extension of the historical legacy of the original Hungerford School, and the new Hungerford Elementary.
“It's right in the center of Eatonville and we really want the people and the residents to take advantage of that. So the education legacy continues on that site,” Castor Dentel said.
Deputy Superintendent Mike Armbruster said the goal is to give local families a chance at an education and a high-paying job, which he says is life-changing.
“We have students who are leaving our programs making $100,000 a year, and that's going to change their life, it's going to change their children's lives, it's going to change their children's children's lives,” Armbruster said.
Armbruster said in total his department, which serves mostly adult learners, sees about 55,000 students a year. That number will now increase thanks to the new campus.
“Sometimes we get caught up in the overwhelmingness of big and large numbers that we forget that somebody's going to walk through this door, someone and they're going to change their lives, maybe they're going to get their high school diploma, maybe they're going to get welding certification, and they're gonna go out and they're gonna find a job,” Armbruster said.
The school is the seventh site of the technical college in Central Florida.
The National Student Clearinghouse found that trade programs jumped in enrollment between 2021 and 2022.
Experts say a number of factors including the rising cost of college are driving this shift from four-year programs.
