x
Breaking News
More () »

President of Penn State Visits Central Columbia High School

SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP — The president of Penn State University toured Central Columbia High School to get a look at a program that could help his future s...
col psu pres

SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP -- The president of Penn State University toured Central Columbia High School to get a look at a program that could help his future students save money and time.

The program is helping students pick a career pathway before they pick a college.

At 16, Abby Yoder already has an idea of what kind of job she wants.

“I am thinking about being an Ag teacher and teaching agricultural sciences," said Abby Yoder.

To help Abby and other students figure out what they may want to do when they grow up, Central Columbia High School near Bloomsburg offers students hands-on experience through its career pathway program.

"There are a lot of different paths you can go on like for engineering, but I want to be a civil engineer," said Toby Dayhoff.

The school already had the career pathway program in place, but this is the first year it has the equipment and the facilities to help students figure out what they may want to do in the future.

"The old high school, I mean, it was a little pressed for space. It was smaller. We didn't have that much technology or equipment as we do now," said Yoder.

The recent $34 million high school renovation has gotten the attention of the president of Penn State University.  Eric Barron toured many of the new classrooms, each with a specific career focus.

"If you've got a better idea of what you are interested in before you go to college, you can graduate more quickly and that's the best way to save money in higher education."

Barron sees the career pathway program as an opportunity to help the 50 percent or so college students who change their major before they graduate.

"If you decide in college and you already picked your major and everything like that you spend all of this money and you teach you don’t like what you do. You spend all of this money and don't want to do something you hate," said Dayhoff.

"It's great that he's here and we get to show him what we do here," said Yoder.

If Abby if does change her mind, it’s okay. Although, she does say thanks to the new opportunities at Central Columbia she wants to be an agriculture teacher even more.

Before You Leave, Check This Out