| Career Center | |
| Address: | 910 Highland Court |
| Zipcode: | 27101 |
| Country: | United States |
| Pushpin Map: | North Carolina#USA |
| Superintendent: | Tricia McManus |
| Principal: | Nancy Martinez |
| Schooltype: | Alternate High School |
| Grades: | 9–12 |
| Language: | English |
| Campus Type: | Urban |
| Colors: | Maroon and gray (unofficial) |
| Enrollment: | 2400 |
| Enrollment As Of: | 2014 |
The Career Center is a high school located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It offers an extension to the regular high school program. Classes offered include Advanced Placement courses, career, technical education (CTE) courses, English, and classes too small to be held at the regular high schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools program, such as Japanese and Chinese. It also offers extended day classes, which are held after school that allow students to "make up" for a failed class in order to graduate. It moved to a new facility in January 2012 after a bond vote sold its previous facility to Forsyth Tech.
The bell schedule is as follows:
| Period | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 8:00 – 8:58* | |
| 2nd | 9:14* - 10:00 | |
| 3rd | 10:03 – 10:48 | |
| 4th | 10:51 - 11:36* | |
| 5th | 11:36 – 12:24 | |
| 6th |
| |
| 7th | 1:33 – 2:18 | |
| 8th | 2:21 – 3:06* |
Career classes have contracted with local businesses such as electricians for students with hands-on experience that are interested in working after high school. Many teachers at Career Center are experts in their fields, some of whom have taught their class since its inception. The CTE courses work hands on in the fields they are studying. For example, the Auto Tech class will actually repair vehicles, either from the school system or from people who volunteer to take them there, for free, the Early Childhood Education course actually operates a daycare, Teacher Cadet students will work in elementary schools during their second semester, the Construction Technology class constructs a house every year for Habitat for Humanity, and the Advanced-level cosmetology students will actually take customers.
Beyond academics, Career Center also provides a collegiate atmosphere for students. Students enrolled in the AP classes strive to achieve higher than those found at normal high schools. Many students are granted travel periods to extend time management responsibilities while providing time to study, socialize, or relax. Because of the nature of the program, with most kids only attending the school for part of the day, the school does not offer regular meals. Food may, however, be purchased from the Culinary Arts class.
Despite its non-traditional setting, several clubs exist at Career Center, including Robotics Club, Physics Club, and HOSA.
Since the Career Center is not a main high school in the WS/FCS system, it devotes a certain amount of time to attracting new students. Recent items include bumper stickers, glow-in-the-dark T-shirts, carabiners, and hoodies with the Career Center logo on it. The Career Center sends seniors to the main high schools in the system with presentations to entice rising sophomores and juniors to apply for classes there.
The career center offers classes related to specific fields. These classes, usually about 1.5 hours (two periods) long, are designed to help students gain a better understanding in that specific field, and better prepares them for it. They are taught by professionals in that specific industry. They include:
These classes are more difficult, considering they are on a college level. Students can receive college credit for these classes only if they take the AP exam at the end of the year. Career Center has a higher percentage of students achieve proficient scores (a score of 3 or above) than both the national and state averages on almost all AP exams.[1]
The Career Center's facilities were moved during the 1st semester of the 2011–2012 school year.
Forsyth County passed an educational bond in the fall of 2008 providing the money for Forsyth Tech to purchase the building that currently houses the Career Center and the WS/FCS Administrative Center.
The administrative center was also moved to two buildings previously occupied by HanesBrands north of town off Hanes Mill Road.
A new and larger Career Center was built on the site where Kennedy Middle School currently sits. This campus now houses three separate educational programs. The current Kennedy building remained and was remodeled to become a career technical high school. Carter Vocational High School was built on the southwest corner of the site. In addition, two buildings now house the Career Center. A three-story 'L-shaped' building housing mostly the Advanced Placement, regular, and honors classes was constructed on the southeast corner, and a two-story 'U-shaped' building housing most of the CTE courses was built north of the three-story building.