Magnet and school choice applications are now open for Hillsborough County families, and district officials say next school year, they have two new exciting opportunities for high school students looking to learn a trade that will almost guarantee a job post graduation.

The district is launching two new magnet schools, the Bowers Whitley Building and Construction Academy, and DW Waters Medical Academy.

“The whole point is that these two schools are opening as a response to workforce requests from our community of jobs that will exist in the next four years and beyond, and a lot of our students are going to be able to graduate high school and right into a job that they’ve already apprenticed for - right into a job that can pay anywhere from $50 to $60 to $70,000 a year out of high school,” said Robert Cox, with Hillsborough County Schools.

Automotive students at Bowers Whitley, which currently serves as a career center, say this type of training is setting them up for a successful future.

Justin Diaz is currently a senior in high school, but his day isn’t spend entirely behind a desk like a typical student. He’s in an automotive shop, learning how to do a brake job as part of his automotive class, and by the time he graduates, he’ll have received all the certifications he needs to continue pursuing his automotive career.

“Most of the day I’m doing oil changes, tire rotations, inspections every single time, battery swaps, all the easy stuff,” said Justin, referring to the job this program already helped him get at Wesley Chapel Toyota.

Soon, his duties will change, and so will his pay. He’s almost guaranteed a promotion upon graduation, something his instructor, Krishna Alexander, says he wishes was available to him.  “I always tell my students that, I said appreciate what you have now because I wish I had this while I was growing up. They didn’t have anything like automotive, they just had electrical so I went electrical because I wanted to learn a trade,” said Alexander.

With Hillsborough County’s two newest magnet schools becoming available next school year, students like Justin will have an even broader range of career paths to choose from.  The district offers 80 different programs, setting students up for success.

“It makes me feel great, like after I’ve been here two, almost thjree years, once I got my job I was happy because that’s what I was looking forward to and once I got in there, I already had all the techniques so it’s a good trade skill,” said Justin. 

The deadline to apply is December 16^th and the District will hold an information session on all programs at Zoo Tampa on November 3^rd.