The question asked in every school, every grade, and every class: “Why am I even taking this class?”. Well, now there is a solution to that problem. Students that take classes at the Technology Campus at College of Lake County are able to take a class that is geared to their major. The Tech Campus is an extension site of many area high schools for juniors and seniors to attend classes in a specific career training program. With twenty-two member high schools throughout Lake and McHenry Counties representing over 1,900 high school students, the Tech Campus has the largest career technical secondary educational system in the state of Illinois. The Tech Campus experience provides an educational environment that supports and encourages individual learning styles, develops occupational skills and professionalism, promotes academic growth, and assists students in discovering what career they want to pursue and how to do so. In addition to high school credit, the Tech Campus partnered with the College of Lake County, allows students the opportunity to earn college credit at no cost. Classes are offered in three sessions, five days a week.  Some of the classes that can be taken are as follows: Architecture & Construction, Arts, Technology & Communications, Business & Administration, Education & Training, Health Science, Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security, and Manufacturing.

There are two ways to take classes at the Tech Campus. One way is taking a class that fills up periods 1-4. Students take a bus at 7:45 every morning to head towards the campus, located in Grayslake, just about 30 minutes away from Vernon Hills High School. Once there, they take a two hour class with a break in between. Not all students take the same class. For example, Carter Isaacson (11), is the only student from Vernon Hills currently taking Criminal Justice 1. He is in this class with other juniors and seniors from the area. Some other schools include: Deerfield, Grant, Grayslake Central, Grayslake North, Highland Park, Johnsburg, Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, Lakes, Libertyville, and Mundelein. Carter Isaacson (11) is taking the Criminal Justice 1 course at Tech Campus, because he has known for quite some time that he wants to become a police officer. There are about fifeteen students total from Vernon Hills High School, but Isaacson is the only one that is currently taking Criminal Justice 1. “I’ve always known I wanted to be a police officer,” Isaacson says, “so this just gives me a head start. Right now, the job industry is very competitive so I definitely have an advantage over other high schoolers since this is considered a college course.” Every class at the Tech Campus counts as high school credit. Most colleges accept this credit as well, so in most cases it works for both. When Isaacson sits in class, he sits with other kids from Warren, Wauconda, Waukegan, and other schools around the area.

Most students don’t really know that there is an option of Tech Campus. However, Isaacson, who was annoyed of all the classes he had to take when he already was sure of his major, decided to bring it up to his counselor. “It was a conversation I had with my counselor. I told them “I don’t know why I’m taking these classes when I already know what I want to be” So now I only take Precalculus, American Literature, and ALF. I also took U.S. History over the summer so that I could have a study hall as well.”  When asked if this should be recommended to others that already know their major, he said that he thinks it should be known that it helps out a lot. “It teaches you a lot of great stuff, I mean I can only speak for Criminal Justice, but opposed to a kid who hasn’t gone to Tech Campus, I feel like I know a lot more and have a way bigger head start in the job field.”

Kiara Schuh (12) also attends Tech Campus, but not in the beginning of the day. Both of her classes have been on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:00 to 3:15.  So on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Schuh has 7th and 8th off due to lunch and work release.  But on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she leaves directly after 6th period in order to get to the Tech Campus on time.  Schuh isn’t actually sure of her major, so she is taking classes to count as college credit to get out of the way freshman year.  First semester, she took Fundamentals of Speech, a 3 hour credit class, and this semester she is taking psychology, another 3 hour credit class. Schuh feels that the classes she has taken, although they don’t align with her major, have helped her tremendously.  “It’s a smart money saver and has intelligent and challenging classes that you could find anywhere.  I will go into my education next year and be able to skip a lot of those general education classes and instead take more business and accounting classes as I want to major in accounting.  I’m hoping with the credits I already have I can maybe add a second major or a minor in college.”

In both cases, whether the classes are taken daily, in the mornings, or in the afternoon, the students are seeing that their Tech Campus experience is helping them in many ways. Not only is it giving them the credit they need for both high school classes and college courses, but it also giving them the experience of a higher level class before other high schoolers in the nation. Along with that, their already learned material makes them more confident in their job field and an advantage over those who start these classes their freshman year of college, rather than their junior or senior year of high school.