Danielle Damico, 39, was a single mom of three, making ends meet by bartending and serving in Downtown St. Pete. The restaurant was right across the street from St. Petersburg College’s Downtown Center, and she walked by it often. Damico says she often felt like the black sheep of her family because she hadn’t gone to college.
“I faced some personal struggles in high school, and then life happened,” she said.
Children came; years passed. Damico took some classes in 2018, but juggling work and parenting made it seem impossible. When COVID hit and she lost her job, she decided it was time, and she enrolled at St. Petersburg College in Fall 2020. By the end of her second semester, she will have earned her Google IT Support Professional certificate, as well as a Comp TIA A+ certification, both of which were paid for with scholarships.
“These certifications will help me get a job – as early as this summer,” she said.
February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month, which celebrates the importance of CTE programs, not only to Damico, but also to so many others like her all across the nation.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment has skyrocketed in America. In Florida, where the economy relies heavily on the tourism industry, unemployment is widespread. As of December 2020, there were more than 614,000 people without jobs. Programs like those at SPC offer short-term training that can take people who are unemployed or underemployed and quickly train them for high-paying careers in fields where there is a real need for trained workers, such as computer programming, cybersecurity, information technology, health sciences, advanced manufacturing and more.
In order to make earning new credentials more accessible, SPC partnered with the State of Florida. To make short-term programs easier to find, the college partnered with Get There Florida, an initiative that raises awareness of short-term training programs. The college also aimed to make short-term programs more affordable. A $2.2 million grant from the Florida Department of Education’s Rapid Credentialing Economic Recovery and Prosperity Initiative allowed SPC to offer the Rapid Credentialing Scholarship to employees or at risk of losing their jobs due to COVID-19.
“Our region has felt the unprecedented impact COVID-19 has had on the global workforce,” SPC’s Dean of Workforce Development Michael Ramsey said. “SPC’s programs help impacted community members to quickly get the skills they need to get back to work and back on their feet.”
SPC has more than 30 Associate in Science degrees and over 60 certificates, some that can be completed in as little as 10 weeks. In 2019-20, the college awarded more than 740 workforce certifications and is already showing an upward trend. Director of Workforce Education Jason Boys said SPC’s enrollment in Workforce Education Industry Certification programs is growing, as is the college’s selection of programs.
“We’ve had over 1100 students enrolled so far this academic year, and are adding more every day,” Boys said. “We also have several exciting new programs like Electrical Line Worker, Solar Power Associate, Patient Care Technician, Google IT Associate and Entrepreneurship Essentials.”
Damico plans to graduate in Spring 2022, then keep working towards a Bachelor in Applied Science in Technology Development and Management at SPC. Her advice for anyone considering going back? Just do it.
“Don’t even think about it – do it,” she said. “Until you do, you’ll be stuck in that loop of should haves.”
Read on to see more stories of how CTE programs have truly changed lives.
Finding Purpose in the Struggle
Tanya Glover-Carter, 46, came to Florida in 2015 after she and her husband inherited a home in Clearwater from his late mother. She was pregnant and sober after years of substance abuse and the illness and heartbreak that come with it. In 2016, her husband died in a car accident on the Memorial Causeway Bridge, leaving her a widow and single mom. She soon relapsed and spiraled back into addiction. Three years later, she was sober again and living in a halfway house, when a housemate offered up a dare that would change her life.
“I would wake up early and read my Bible and meditate every day,” Glover-Carter remembered. “My roommate said, ‘You always have your head stuck in a book – you should go back to school!’”
The next day, Glover-Carter, who dropped out of school in ninth grade, eventually earning a General Education Diploma, enrolled in SPC’s Addiction Studies certificate program. Sober now “two years and some change,” she graduates this May.
“I chose Addiction Studies because I’ve been trying to stay clean since I was 18,” she said. “It has been challenging, but I was hell bent to finish because the only things I’d ever finished were a jail sentence and childbirth.”
Glover-Carter wasn’t just challenged by the program. She completed her studies while, at the same time, the widow with a young child was completing probation requirements, taking a two-hour bus ride each way from home to classes, and in the middle of the program, she suffered a stroke. Even with the extraordinary obstacles, she maintained a 3.4 GPA.
Her sponsor encouraged her to join SPC’s Women on the Way, where she says she gained emotional support. She also complimented her professors, who were supportive, and the Financial Aid office, which helped her figure out how to pay for her classes. She also received two scholarships, the Joseph and Vilma Zalupski Endowed Scholarship, and the Florence Cole Bellenger Scholarship.
Glover-Carter said when she finishes in May, she hopes her new credentials, combined with her life experiences, will help her land a job at a treatment center. But she’s not done: She has her eye on SPC’s Community Healthcare Worker Certificate.
“I don’t know what doors God is going to open,” she said, “But now I have a purpose, and it’s a do or die situation, if I’m going to reach my full potential.”
Student Gains Confidence to Pursue Dreams
While in high school, Reily Cruz, 29, made plans to study for a career in aeronautical engineering. But after graduating and beginning studies towards that degree, he realized after only two semesters that it wasn’t his destiny. He was looking for his passion, and instead of finding it in science, he decided it lay in a different sort of engineering: music. In the fall of 2014, he heard about SPC’s Music Industry and Recording Arts (MIRA) program and attended an open house event.
“The college offered a degree in audio engineering, which lined up with what I decided to pursue in life: music production,” Cruz said. “Although aeronautical engineering offered financial security and other benefits, I couldn’t see myself being content with that career path years down the road. I believe that enrolling in the MIRA program over at SPC has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.”
The open house event left a good impression, and Cruz enrolled for classes in SPC’s MIRA program in the fall of 2015. Armed with only basic music knowledge, he started learning more about music production on a Digital Audio Workstation, and he began taking piano lessons to learn more about music theory.
“Other students had been playing music since grade school,” Cruz said. “I felt like I had to play catch-up. It was like learning a new language. Prior to the MIRA program, I would have to attempt to describe what I was hearing creatively in my head without having the proper level of musical jargon to explain ideas.”
Cruz said he was offered a wide variety of experiences throughout the program, many hands-on, which he says was integral to his learning.
“Providing students with a real-life experience in the field grants us a view into the world we’ll be soon head into,” he said. “I interned at the Palladium for a semester and got experience in a live setting. I was able to get studio experience at Creative World Recording, which is run by George Harris. I had a lot of fun and learned so much from him.”
Cruz graduated with an Associate in Science degree from the MIRA program with focus on production in 2019. Along the way, he earned the Audio Technology Certificate with a Production subplan. He recently produced his first record under the name Reily Ilo. He hopes to start his own record label. He said the credentials he earned at SPC have given him the knowledge and ability to start his career, along with the confidence to pursue his dreams.
“A lot of 17- and 18-year-olds get dropped the heavy question: ‘What do you want to do in life?’” he said. “A lot of us are overwhelmed by it because we are still experiencing the self-discovery process. MIRA provided me the confidence to venture off into the world and start my career.”
Never Too Late to Start
Gina Wright was 59 years old and working for a cleaning service, when one of her clients suggested a program being offered at St. Petersburg College. When Wright responded that she may be getting too old to go back to school, her client reminded her that Colonel Sanders didn’t start his now multi-billion-dollar chicken franchise until he was 65. Wright reconsidered and enrolled in SPC’s 10-week Phlebotomy Technician program and began classes in November 2020.
“I was a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) before, and I love working in healthcare,” she said. “I wanted to get back in that profession to work with the elderly.”
It had been a while since Wright had been in school, but she was determined, and said she gained her strength from her faith.
“Sometimes I thought it might be too much, but I can’t stay stuck – I have to grab hold and go,” she said. “I just have to look at how God is blessing me, and this class is a gift from God.”
Wright credited her instructors for support, both academically and personally.
“They are awesome,” she said. They motivate you to do more and go out of their way to better the community and help people. I figure, if they can invest that much in me, I can, too.”
Wright said that she qualified for the Rapid Credentialing Scholarship, which provides full scholarships funded by $2.2 million in grant funding awarded to SPC through the Florida Department of Education’s Rapid Credentialing Economic Recovery and Prosperity Initiative.
“It paid for my tuition, books, uniform and even the exams and practice exams,” she said.
Just ten weeks after beginning, Wright will finish the program in February, just before her 60th birthday. She plans to find a job in her field, but she also has her eye on some other certifications.
“I’m interested in Radiology or a CCMA (Certified Clinical Medical Assistant) and maybe hone my skills some more,” she said. “I want to make sure I use this gift.”
Building a New Community
When CatZe Worrell, 27, stepped off the Auto Train in Orlando on a sweltering July day in 2018, she had her boyfriend, her car and a plan to attend St. Petersburg College. After a week in a hotel, the two settled into their own place and Worrell began the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at SPC.
“I chose SPC because I wanted a school that was financially attainable, highly rated and offering a Hospitality Management program,” Worrell said. “And we were looking for a place to live that offered convenience to both of our schools. Luckily, SPC offered multiple locations and a fully online program to accommodate my needs.”
Worrell, who grew up in her family’s restaurant on Virginia Beach’s oceanfront, said she always had a love for the restaurant business, and though it was exciting start college after putting it off for a few years, Worrell faced bouts of homesickness.
“The first six months were the most difficult in being away from my family and friends,” she said. “But I found comfort and distraction in my coursework as well as utilizing the campus.”
Worrell is now deciding where to complete her internship, and she expects to graduate after the Summer 2021 term. In the course of her studies, she has already earned Rooms Division Specialist and Rooms Division Operations certificates and will earn four more by the time she graduates. With the industry bouncing back after taking a hard hit from the pandemic, Worrell believes that, together with her internship and work experience, she has several interesting opportunities open to her.
“I would like to land a management position at a hotel or resort that prioritizes their environmental impact,” she said. “My long-term dream is to open my own “green” bed and breakfast. Although, I do stay open to the likelihood of my plans changing along the way.”
Worrell said SPC’s Hospitality program has shown her that she has both the perseverance and the ability to accomplish her goals.
“As we all can relate, it has been challenging to stay focused and motivated over the last several months, and my professors at SPC have been key in this journey. Not only has SPC provided my education, but it also introduced me to a network of jobs, industry professionals, and friends along the way.”
Leave a Reply