Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
TCHS grads forge their own paths in career & technical education
From a young age, children are continuously asked the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Some children know what they want to be, but others take a longer path towards discovering their passion.
Whether they have always known what they wanted to be or not, students attending the Chester County Technical College High School (TCHS) all have one thing in common- they’ve explored the many pathways available to them through career and technical education.
TCHS is a public high school of choice for students in grades 9-12 who want to explore a career and reap the benefits of earning college credit while doing so. TCHS, through its LINKS program, allows students to take a variety of college credits while in high school either for free or at a significantly reduced cost. TCHS partners with the state of Pennsylvania and various universities and colleges to offer students the opportunity to get a head start on college.
TCHS offers students the chance to investigate a wide range of career pathways. While some pathways are more traditional, many of them are as unique as the students who select them.
While the pathways often begin in the arts, STEM or skill trades, students take elements from all of these disciplines and create their own unique career paths. What unites many of these students is the engagement with a hands-on learning approach over a more traditional lecture style of learning.
Diego Alvarez Lopez is a recent graduate of the TCHS Pennock’s Bridge Engineering and Robotics program. As a student from the Oxford Area School District, Alvarez Lopez’s first encounter with TCHS came when Penn’s Grove Middle School hosted its annual Career Day while he was a student there.
“I have known for a long time that I was a hands-on learner. When TCHS came to my middle school, I was immediately attracted to it,” said Alvarez Lopez. This hands-on approach is the cornerstone of TCHS’ educational philosophy.
As a public high school of choice, students must apply to attend TCHS. Being around other motivated people with a common interest was appealing to Alvarez Lopez.
“My favorite part about being at TCHS was that I was around other students with similar interests to mine. I never felt forced to be there because I always genuinely wanted to learn more about a subject I am really interested in,” said Alvarez Lopez.
Since Alvarez Lopez knew from a young age that he wanted to pursue a STEM career, he was able to chart out a career pathway with the help of the TCHS staff and curriculum.
“I will be attending Penn State Main Campus to major in Engineering. I am so excited about this opportunity. Penn State has always been my first choice and the guidance office at TCHS helped walk me through the application process. I think they were just as thrilled when I got my letter of acceptance as my family was,” said Alvarez Lopez.
One of its strengths is the school’s commitment to encouraging students to pursue careers for which their gender is underrepresented. The state refers to these students as non-traditional students. Increased diversity within a career field allows for innovation and progress, which opens new pathways for underrepresented groups.
One such student who forged a new pathway at TCHS is Lauren Ditizio. Ditizio recently graduated from the Computer Information Systems (CIS)-Networking program at TCHS Brandywine Campus. Ditizio, a student from the West Chester Area School District, began her TCHS experience as a junior in high school.
“My mom really encouraged me to think about TCHS. She’s in IT and so I had a great female role model in a field that has been traditionally a male-dominated industry. When I first looked at TCHS, I was torn between pursing culinary or CIS-Networking. Ultimately, I wanted to keep culinary as a hobby I enjoyed for myself rather than a career,” said Ditizio.
For Ditizio, her decision to pursue CIS-Networking was part of a larger calling to help protect people. “I think that a big factor in my decision to pursue this career path is that I want to help protect people, their information and their assets. The news is full of stories about hacks. I love the challenge of staying one step ahead of hackers and thinking outside the box to protect people,” said Ditizio.
As a non-traditional student, Ditizio has felt very supported and comfortable in her program. “I was a little nervous when I first started because I was the only girl in the program. But my nerves were quickly put to rest by how accepting and supportive my instructor Mr. Damon and my classmates were. Career and technical education gets a bad reputation that it doesn’t deserve. Everyone is here because we want to be here and we support each other,” said Ditizio.
In her home district, Ditizio was an academically-motivated student who had never once considered any career pathway that did not include going to college immediately after high school. However, two years at TCHS has given Ditizio a different vision for her future.
“I’ve always just assumed I would go right to college after high school- there was never any question. After attending TCHS, though, I realized there are so many pathways out there for me than I ever knew existed. Going to college immediately isn’t for everyone. As long as you have identified a pathway for yourself and are moving forward, that is all that matters,” said Ditizio.
Ditizio has been accepted to University of Hartford for the fall 2018 semester where she also received a scholarship. She will wait a year before enrolling to get some real-world IT experience and will take community college classes. “I was always a perfectionist, so I was surprised when I made this decision to take this non-traditional path to my future career. TCHS showed me I could forge my own path as a woman entering the cyber security field and so I am getting hands-on experience first before I start at the University of Hartford,” said Ditizio.
Some students decide to attend TCHS because they want to explore new career pathways. Other students make the choice to attend because their experience at TCHS can help them along the career path they know they want to pursue. Michael Daulerio, a recent graduate of TCHS Pickering Campus from the Owen J. Roberts School District, made the decision to enter the Criminal Justice & Police Science program because he knew as a child what he wanted his career path to be.
“I knew from an early age that I wanted to enter the military. When I was in eighth grade my parents arranged a tour of TCHS Pickering Campus for me. When I saw the Criminal Justice program I knew immediately it’s what I wanted to do after I finished my military career,” said Daulerio. As a middle school student, Daulerio was already planning his whole career rather than just landing a first job.
For Michael’s parents, Mike and Diane, TCHS also served as a learning experience and brought a sense of relief about the many career paths available to their son. “Michael certainly had a strong interest in the military from a young age. His grandfather was a World War II veteran having served during DDay invasion at Omaha Beach. It was wonderful to know he was exploring other career choices while at TCHS, such as becoming a state trooper. It made all of us more confident in his decision to pursue the Army ROTC Early Commissioning Program (ECP) at Valley Forge Military Academy & College (VFMAC),” said Mike Daulerio.
Daulerio received a scholarship to be in the ECP at VFMAC where he will do two years in the ROTC. He will then be commissioned as an officer in a reservist unit until he completes the final two years of his degree, after which he will serve four years in active Army service.
“The best part about my TCHS experience was the people I met. I didn’t know people from my sending school who had similar interests in the military or criminal justice. I found those people at TCHS. Not only did we quickly connect over shared interests in the classroom, but we also would train together since there were a few of us who wanted to enter into the military,” said Daulerio.
Diego Alvarez Lopez, Lauren Ditizio and Michael Daulerio are three unique students who come from different parts of Chester County, have diverse interests and are going on to pursue different things. TCHS offers students with varying interests and skill sets the opportunity to explore their passions in a structured manner.
These three students left TCHS with skills that could translate into immediate job skills, such as Ditizio’s pursuit of a job before starting college. They also left with the opportunity to enter college already having earned college credits. Both Alvarez Lopez and Daulerio graduated TCHS with college credits, Daulerio having earned up to 21 credits during his time at TCHS.
For parents who might be on the fence about whether TCHS would be a good fit for their child, Diane Daulerio has some advice: “Go to the school. Explore the opportunities. Speak to the faculty. Then, make an informed decision based on knowledge and information you have gathered from that experience. The opportunities and encouragement provided to your child at this school are abundant. They will finish high school with a certificate in their field and can hit the ground running, whether that is through employment or by furthering their knowledge in college. It is a win win,” she said.
For more information about TCHS, visit www.technicalcollegehighschool.org.