HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. — In Hamblen County, Superintendent Dr. Jeff Perry knows there are a lot of non-traditional students.
"A lot of these students, they know what they want to do," Dr. Perry said. "They want to go into autobody. They want to go into welding. They want to go in some of the industries that we have here in the community."
He also knows that Morristown and the surrounding community are in desperate need of workers.
"Our industries are really struggling to find quality candidates right now," he said. "On any given day, we could probably hire 1,000 people here in Morristown in some of our local industries and some of our businesses."
That's why the Hamblen County school district is launching a program called 'Education Works.' In the program, students will split their time between classes and apprenticeships learning trades while also attending typical classes.
"We've actually had a student go in in the morning, work 4 hours and then another student would come in in the afternoon and work the additional 4 hours to complete the eight-hour shift," he said. "The industry had a full-time employee and we were able to give our students some extremely valuable lessons."
Participating students will also earn money and credit towards graduation.
"This is a great opportunity," Dr. Perry said. "We want to make sure that we have a pathway for those students to be successful."
The school district is also beginning a program called 'Tomorrow's Teachers' to identify and support high schoolers that could be future educators.
"You can either sit back and lament the lack of good quality teachers or you can create your own," Dr. Perry said. "That's what we've decided to do."
Students will take classes in high school and then have their first two years of post-secondary education paid for by the state. Then, Hamblen County has a partnership with Western Governors University for their final two years of school.
"We encourage those individuals to go into the teaching field and we kind of nurture those students," Dr. Perry said. "We prepare them so that when they come out, these teachers are ready day one."