Ohio Hi-Point Program Aligns with Community's Path

by Dr. Rick Smith, Superintendent of the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
Since being at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center as the superintendent, we have developed a plan to help move this school in the direction of the future with a new five-year plan that will benefit our students as well as the community.

Moving forward into this five-year plan includes many changes and moving parts to make it all come together. One of the larger changes includes building a new pathway program available to students in the coming years. This new program will set Ohio Hi-Point Career Center as the frontrunner in smart technologies, and the students will be the leaders in this new technology-driven industry.

There has been a huge amount of support throughout the region and the Ohio Department of Education, The Ohio State University, Clark State Community College, Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America, Inc., Honda of America Mfg., Inc., ADA Technologies, Inc., Sarica Manufacturing, Transportation Research Center, John Deere, ORBIS Manufacturing, and International Paper all have come to the table to ensure that the equipment we get and the lesson plans that are developed are on track with this new industry’s standards. We are so excited to be working with all of these innovative partners, coming together to help build this program to exactly where it needs to be.

The Sloan Foundation, a long-time donor of funds for equipment to provide students with the best possible training, has agreed to donate an additional $600,000 for equipment to get these programs off the ground. In addition, the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center Board of Education has agreed to put forth another $400,000 in renovations to the classroom space.

This program will be piloted January 2018 and is scheduled to launch, accepting a full group of students, in the fall of 2018. This program will have two separate pathways associated with it. The first pathway, the Applied Manufacturing, will be designed to provide a full understanding of equipment for students who want to develop their skills as technicians for manufacturing industries. The second pathway will be the Smart Technology Engineering pathway where students who are interested in the electrical engineering field will learn more about autonomous vehicles and drone technologies.

This program is directly in line with where our community is headed. With the new Transportation Research Center being built, the Smart City Grant that Columbus will be implementing, and the US 33 Highway being used as the Smart Car corridor, we believe very strongly in the timeliness of this program and that our students can be an instrumental part in the future workforce needs.

We are excited to have this opportunity and support from the Board of Education and backing of the community to be a part of training high school students and eventually of adults in these future pathways.
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Dr. Rick Smith is superintendent of the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center.

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