Nearly 2,000 local high school sophomores toured the local career school campuses, but only those at Butler Tech’s Bioscience school got to suture bananas.
That was part of career days last week where sophomores got to experience the career school’s many career education programs as they mulled over their choice of whether to apply to attend Butler Tech during their junior and senior years.
The banana part — the peel mimics human flesh — was just one of many demonstrations at the Bioscience campus in West Chester Township where the teens were also treated to testing urine samples, conducting injections and learning about human bones from a plastic replica of skeleton.
“It’s very important because when you are 15 or 16 years old it’s kind of hard to decide what you want to do,” said Karla Lynch, a health care instructor at the Bioscience school.
“This gives them some real hands on opportunities to kind of see what it’s really going to be like here and what that career might be like that they might want to choose,” said Lynch.
A.J. Huff, spokeswoman for Butler Tech — which is one of Ohio’s largest career school systems serving both teens and adults — said the three days of events this week attracted more than 1,800 sophomores from the 11 school districts in Butler County and northern Hamilton County that partner with the district.
Lynch said, “we give them opportunities to do career explorations and find what the best fit is for them and what they can expect if they come here.”
Butler Tech has added three new school campuses in the past 18 months, the most recent being an agreement approved earlier this month completing the merger of Hamilton High School’s career education building and programs.
“The number of students we serve on campuses, associate school satellite programs and through adult education is currently 17,000 each day. This will increase to approximately 18,000 with the expansions,” said Huff.
New Miami High School sophomore Trey Robinette liked what he saw in both the classroom instruction and the state-of-the-art, two-story Bioscience building that overlooks the Interstate 75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road interchange.
“I like the feel of this place, it’s really cool,” said Robinette, who is considering enrolling in Butler Tech’s exercise science program.
“I like the college feel here,” he said, referencing the less structured but no less demanding instructional requirements that allow Butler Tech students to also learn about personal responsibility, time management while they are being trained in a career.
Students wanting more information on Butler Tech should contact their local high school counselor or go to Butler Tech's website at butlertech.org. The application window for the 2019-2020 school year closes Jan. 31.
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