Alabama Health Care Industry

Let me start by giving you some exciting information regarding our state.

Alabama is divided into seven Workforce Development regions and Opelika is located in the Central AlabamaWorks region.  Our region stretches from Lee, Chambers, and Russell Counties west to Perry and Dallas Counties.  The Alabama Department of Labor-Workforce Development keeps track of employment trends throughout Alabama and we use this information to make sure that the Career and Technical Education programs we are offering Opelika students provide them with the opportunity to leave high school with experience and certifications that will increase their chances of gaining employment or advancing their education.

One program that OHS offers is Health Sciences.  Looking at the top 40 "High Demand Occupations 2014-2024" report from Central AlabamaWorks, 25% of them are in the field of Health Sciences.  The Central AlabamaWorks Region also reports that 12.32% of the jobs in the region are related to Health Care and Social Assistance, making it the second largest industry in the region behind manufacturing.  According to the Local Area Plan developed by Central AlabamaWorks, "There are more specialized jobs in health care than in the past, due to rising cost and demand for health care." (p. 5).  The report goes on to state that, "Continuing care retirement and assistant living facilities have also doubled in employment.  As the population ages, so does the workforce in the healthcare industry." (p. 5).

Okay, that might not have been that exciting.

2017-2018 CNA students.

But what is exciting, is that Opelika High School is preparing students to take advantage of this growth through the Health Sciences program.  Students can graduate Opelika High as a Certified Pharmacy Technician, Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Patient Care Technician, or with their Emergency Medical Technician Basic Certification.  The best news is that students who complete these certifications while in high school have the majority of the costs associated with test prep and test cost paid for through Career and Technical Education funds. This means a student can graduate high school with the training and experience to gain full-time employment in a growing industry or pursue a post-secondary degree.  With a certification, a student who chooses to pursue their post-secondary degree has the option of working in a higher paying job and gaining work experience while earning that degree.

2016-2017 CNA students.

An example of this occurred this year.  A CNA student who graduated in 2017 from Opelika High School became a Certified Nursing Assistant.  The student was immediately employed by a local facility with a starting hourly wage of $14.10.  While this is great, it is just the beginning for this student.  This student now has the opportunity to gain work experience that could possibly open other doors for them to advance their career further.

First OHS student to receive certification as a CNA.

It excites me to know that Opelika City Schools is providing these types of opportunities to students not only in Health Sciences, but in all of our Career and Technical Education programs.  If you want to keep up-to-date on what is happening with with Career and Technical Education at Opelika High School, follow us on Facebook, "Opelika High School Career Tech".

A visit from the Life Saver helicopter crew is always exciting.

Opelika High School Farm

Almost two years ago Opelika City Schools started the process of developing the wooded area behind the Opelika High School baseball field and track into usable land for the Agriculture program.

Aerial view of the wooded area behind the OHS baseball field and track.

The first step in that process was to have the underbrush cleared so that we could see the land and get a better understanding of the terrain and layout.

View of the land after the underbrush had been cleared.

Once we were able to walk/drive through the land, we were able to start developing a plan for what and where things might be able to go.  The decision was made to use a portion of the land for trails and plant identification.  Another section would be clear cut to be used as a school farm. 

After clear cutting the land to prepare it for a future farm.

The clear cut land was seeded to prevent erosion while the other pieces of the puzzle were being worked on.  In the end, we wanted the farm to have a variety of projects for students to experience and learn from such as fish ponds, vegetable crops, fruit trees, honey bees, and chickens. All of these projects required planning to make sure they were placed in spaces that best suited each one.  Before any of these projects could even get started, we had to ensure that one crucial element was readily available and easily accessed.  That element was water.  

Aerial view of the land after seeding and while the well was being drilled.

A well had to be drilled on the land to ensure that plants, animals, and ponds had enough water to keep them alive and healthy.  On August 21 that well was dug and water was hit at a depth of 170 feet.  The company digging the well said that the well at OHS would be in the top 5% of all the wells they dug that year for depth, water volume, and water quality.  

Now that the well has been dug, we are waiting for plans regarding the construction of ponds.  Once we know where the ponds will be located, we will be able to locate the other projects on the land. This will allow us to start putting water lines in the ground to ensure that plants, trees, animals, and the ponds have the water that they need. 

Ginny Gaberlavage and Collin Adcock
OHS Agriscience teachers

An aerial video of the OHS campus and land will be added to the Facebook page.  If you would like to know exactly where this land is located on the OHS campus look for the Opelika High School Career Tech page to view the video.

Follow Opelika High School Career and Technical Education on

Facebook - Opelika High School Career Tech

Twitter - @OpelikaCTE

Instagram - @opelikacte

Opelika Career Tech Continues to Grow

Well, it has begun.  The 2017-2018 school year has started.

For many of us it seems that summer never lasts long enough.  However, it is nice to get back into a routine, especially when that routine involves shaping and changing lives.  It is especially exciting this year as the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department at OHS continues to grow.

There are a few new faces that have joined us this year.  Mandy Baker recently moved to Opelika and will be leading the new Education and Training program at OHS.  In previous years we have called this program Child Development.  With this name change we are focusing student attention on the value of a career in education.

Jared Flemming has also joined the CTE Department as a Career Preparedness teacher.  Mr. Flemming will be a great addition to the solid core of teachers we currently have teaching Career Preparedness.

OHS will also be adding Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communications as a new program to CTE this year.  Tracy Tidwell, who has been with OHS for a number of years working in the video program, gained a CTE certification over the summer and will now be able to offer OHS students more course options within this field.

In the past five years CTE at Opelika High School has tried to make sure that the courses offered to students match not only the needs of our community, but also the interests of our students.  At the end of last school year we complied data to evaluate our efforts at reaching this goal.

For the 2013-2014 school year, OHS students pre-registered for 1,685 CTE courses.  That number has increased steadily for the past five years and for the 2017-2018 school year, OHS students pre-registered for 2,063 CTE courses.  We feel this information shows that OHS is adding CTE programs that interest a wide variety of students within the school.

Follow Opelika City Schools on Twitter @opelikaschools
Follow Opelika Career and Technical Education on Twitter @OpelikaCTE
Follow Opelika Career and Technical Education on Instagram @opelikacte
Like "Opelika High School Career Tech" on Facebook

Opelika Power Services and Opelika City Schools

Hopefully you have heard that the City of Opelika is the first gig city in Alabama.  What you might not know is that according to the High Speed Geek (http://highspeedgeek.com/america-gigabit-internet/) as of March 7, 2016 there were only 48 cities in the United States that offered a gigabyte of data to their residents. All this data is transferred by sending light through glass tubes smaller than the size of a hair bundled into fiber optic cables.

In order to run these fiber optic cables throughout the city or a building the cables have to be cut and spliced together in a way that does not interrupt the transfer of data. This is a special skill that workers at Opelika Power Services (OPS) have to be trained and certified to do.

At Opelika High School, we have been offering students courses in Information Technology for three years. Students in these courses learn the basics of computer hardware and software. Part of the computer hardware that students learn about are the cables that transfer data throughout our world. During the fall of 2015 OHS had 39 students test and certify as Copper Cabling Specialists. Copper cables are what most of us have plugged into our computers or WiFi routers in our houses. They transfer the same data as fiber optic cables, they just do it slower. In an effort to expand our information technology program, OHS started exploring how to provide students a fiber optic certification along with the copper certification we currently offer.  As you can imagine equipment that allows someone to splice a glass tube together is not cheap.  When OPS heard what we wanted to do with fiber optic certifications and saw the curriculum we wanted to teach, it made sense to work together.

With the support of OPS, fiber optic training equipment will be purchased to allow Opelika High School students the opportunity to become C-Tech Certified Fiber Optic Cabling Specialists during the 2016–2017 school year.

Since our students live in the first gig city in Alabama, it makes sense that our students be provided with the opportunity to become contributing members of their community.  With this new certification, it is possible for a student in the class of 2017 to graduate with the skills and training that would help them begin a career at OPS.  

Opelika Power Services is not only working to create homes in Opelika that are “Future Focused”. They are helping to ensure that Opelika High School graduates are “Future Focused” as well.  Opelika truly is a great place to work and live.

Career Certifications

Career and Technical Education Month

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Being able to declare students as College or Career Ready is extremely important to Opelika City Schools and this can be done in a number of ways.  For the most part, our teachers have a good grasp of what it takes to be college ready because all of them attended college and have at least one degree.  The difficult part comes as we work to get students ready for a career.  Of course we are constantly working to help students with the soft skills that are vitally important to all careers.  However, few teachers have had careers outside of education, so they may not know what specific skills are needed for certain careers.  This makes it difficult for us to know which certification a particular industry places value in.  Thankfully the Office of Workforce Development and the Alabama State Department of Education have worked to create a list of industry-approved certification tests that we can offer our students.  Unlike the tests that are created by teachers to assess their students’ learning, these certification tests are created by businesses to assess if a person has the skills and knowledge necessary for a particular career.

Opelika High School is excited to offer at least one certification for each of the seven Career and Technical Education Programs offered to students.

Certification Offered for 2015-2016:

• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources - Landscape Management Technician
• Business and Marketing - Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, and National Retail Federation
• Early Child Development Services - Alabama Educator Certification Assessment Program
• Restaurant and Food and Beverage Services - ServSafe Manager
• Project Lead The Way (Engineering) - Autodesk Inventor (CAD) Certified User
• Health Sciences - Certified Patient Care Technician and Certified Pharmacy Technician
• Information Technology - C-Tech Certified Copper Cabling Specialist

As always, Opelika City Schools is looking for ways of improving its Career and Technical Education Programs to better serve our students and our community.  This means that we must look for ways of better preparing our students to become valuable members of our community.  Therefore in the upcoming school year, Opelika High School is exploring the possibility of adding the following certifications.

• Business and Marketing - Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign
• Restaurant and Food and Beverage Services - ProStart National Certificate of Achievement
• Health Sciences - Certified Nursing Assistant
• Information Technology - C-Tech Certified Fiber Optic Cabling Specialist

If you know of other industry-recognized certifications that you feel would benefit our students after they graduate from Opelika High School, feel free to contact us with that information.

Dual Enrollment

Career and Technical Education Month

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For the past few years there has been a focus on making sure that students leave high school “College and Career Ready”.  You might have heard these words used to describe the new standards that Alabama implemented a few years ago called the “College and Career Ready Standards”, commonly referred to as the Common Core.  So, what does it mean to be “College or Career Ready”?  In a nutshell, it means that when students walk across the stage after four years of high school, they should possess skills that will help them get a job or succeed in college.  

Having students take dual enrollment classes is one way in which a school can prepare students for college or a career.  At Opelika High School, students as young as 10th grade are taking dual enrollment courses at Southern Union State Community College (SUSCC).  These courses allow a student to obtain college credit and technical training simultaneously.  In the Spring semester of 2016, there are Opelika High School students enrolled in Welding I, Welding II, Automotive Service Technology, and Engineering Graphics and Design.  These classes are housed in the new Center for Integrated Manufacturing building on the campus of SUSCC.  The classes these students are taking are no different than the ones taken by full time students at SUSCC.  In fact OHS students are in the same class with the same instructor as full time SUSCC students.  The only difference between the two is that the high school students had their tuition paid for through scholarships from the Alabama State Department of Education.

Depending on the program that a student selects and their dedication, it is possible for a student to complete enough course work at SUSCC to earn a Short Term Certificate in a given program prior to their high school graduation.  Currently, Opelika High School also has a group of seniors that are enrolled in an Emergency Medical Technician program through SUSCC.  At the end of this semester, these students will sit for the E.M.T. license.  

As registration for the 2016-2017 school year continues, more students are becoming interested in taking advantage of the possibilities that SUSCC offers them.  We are excited about that growth and look forward to helping more students become “College and Career Ready”.

Opelika Middle School CTE Expo

Career and Technical Education Month

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Opelika Middle School Career and Technical Education Expo

The time to start thinking about and planning for the 2016-2017 school year has already begun.  That means that every 8th grade student and parent of an 8th grade student is about to go through the transition from middle schooler to high schooler.  

One of the first things that happens to prepare 8th grade students for classes at Opelika High School happened on January 19 and 20.  We call it the OMS Career and Technical Education Expo.  We use this event to help all 8th graders experience some of the elective courses they can take as Freshmen.  Career and Technical Education Teachers from Opelika High School select student leaders from their classes to come to Opelika Middle School and make a short hands-on presentation to small groups of 8th graders.  It is a great opportunity for OMS students to see the many options available to them as they begin their high school experience.  It is also a great opportunity for Opelika High School students to practice the leadership skills they have been learning about in all of their Career Tech classes.  OMS students leave with a better understanding of what courses they are interested in as well as what those courses involve.  Our main goal with this event is to help students get interested and excited about coming to Opelika High School in hopes that they will take the classes that interest them the most.

The move from middle school to high school can sometimes be a little confusing, intimidating, and nerve wracking for both students and parents.  This is why Opelika City Schools offers a variety of opportunities for parents and students to make that transition a little bit easier.  For instance, on Tuesday, February 9 the OMS PAC Meeting will be focused on registration for 8th grade parents.  Staff from Opelika High School will be present to help fill out the documents needed to ensure upcoming 9th graders have the classes they need and want.  Parents will also have the option to sign up for an individual meeting with their child’s Guidance Counselor  to help ensure each schedule is correct.  For those that can’t make the February 9 meeting there will be similar meetings held on Thursday, February 11 at Carver Primary School on Carver Avenue and Thursday, February 18 at the Opelika Learning Center on Jeter Avenue.  

Prior to the start of the 2016-2017 school year, all upcoming Freshmen and parents can attend the “Freshman Orientation” held at Opelika High School.  This experience will provide parents and students a chance to get to know some of their teachers, see where their classes will be located, and gather information about life at the high school. 

As always, the staff at Opelika High School and Opelika Middle School are there to help answer any questions and provide any assistence to parents or students.