A.W. Beattie open house Feb. 28
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Any Hampton high school student and parent interested in learning more about career technology education can attend the A.W. Beattie Career Center Open House on Feb. 28.
The event will be held from 5:15 to 8:15 p.m. at the school located on 9600 Babcock Blvd. in Allison Park, according to Eric Heasley, executive director of A.W. Beattie. Visitors can come at anytime within that period.
Along with Hampton Township, A.W. Beattie services students in Avonworth, Deer Lakes, Fox Chapel Area, North Allegheny, North Hills, Northgate, Pine-Richland and Shaler Area school districts.
Beattie is for sophomore, junior and senior high school students who completed the ninth grade.
Heasley said seventh- and eighth-graders who want to learn more about the school have come to the open house in the past. There will be an opportunity to meet with a full staff of Beattie administrators, as well as employers. Post-secondary administrators will also be at the event, Heasley. said
All the programs and rooms will be open for visitors to see and get a feel for what happens at Beattie. For example, visitors may want to see the rooms related to the robotics, culinary, automotive collision center or the health nursing sciences programs, Heasley said.
And students who are now attending will be there to share their experience.
The cosmetology program will even be hosting a fashion show, Heasley said.
A. W. Beattie is co-owned and operated by the nine North Hills school districts, including Hampton, said Lawrence Vasko, a Hampton Township school board member. Each of the nine districts appoints two school directors to serve on the Joint Operating Committee, he said. Vasko is vice president of the Joint Operating Committee.
Beattie offers 18 different programs from the traditional automobile, technology and cosmetology, to new programs like sports medicine and computer systems, network engineering and cyber security, he said. A lot of the programs offer college credits of 3 to 22 credits, Vasko said. Heasley said the Sports Medicine — Rehab Therapy and Veterinary Sciences Technology, which were just added this last year, are a popular pick for students.
Currently, 75 to 80 students from Hampton attend, Heasley said. “Our enrollment continues to grow, and pretty significantly within the last two years,” he said.
For those who aren’t sure what the A.W. Beattie Career Technology Center does, Heasley said “we function like a regular high school.”
“They’re leaving us with college credits and with hands-on experience to enter the workforce,” Heasley said.
Students may enroll in a one, two-, or three-year technical programs and must have completed the ninth grade in his/her member high school, according to the Beattie website. Students attend A.W. Beattie Career Center for one half of the school day, in either the morning or afternoon session, and complete the other half of the day at their sending district, where they will complete their academic courses.
Vasko notes the Beattie programs offer real-world experience through internships with local businesses.
“Beattie gives our students an alternative to high-paying jobs like our HVAC program and for others a head start to their college education like our health and nursing sciences program among many others,” he said.
Some graduates continue additional training at colleges, universities and technical schools to complete their education. And they may work while they are in school, using the training they’ve received at A.W. Beattie to earn more money than average minimum wage positions, according to beattietech.com.