Sophomores from Center Hill High School toured the DeSoto County Career and Technology Center East on Feb. 28. Career Tech East, located on Deerfield Drive, offers students from Center Hill, Lewisburg and Olive Branch high schools opportunities to learn about careers in Health Sciences, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Logistics and Transportation, Information Technology, and Industrial Maintenance.

Maggie Clifton, a participant on the field trip, said she does not know what her future career will be but going on the tour helped.

“It’s between a few things,” the CHHS 10th-grader said. “I’ve been thinking about interior design, floral design and media arts. It just depends on what I figure out what to do. I think it’s better for you to figure out what you want to do early rather than waiting until the last minute.”

Although she might not attend Career Tech East, Clifton said she liked what she saw.

“The health science one gave you a lot of helpful information and it was my favorite,” she said.

Chelsee Ayers, a CHHS junior, is in her first year of Law and Public Safety at Career Tech East.

“I wanted to learn more about the law and policemen and the work they do in the field and to experience it,” said Ayers, who got to travel with her classmates March 1 to tour the sheriff’s office and jail in Hernando. “We learn about the history of law and policing, firefighting, CPR, physical training and everything we need to know.”

Not all students in career and technical education courses pursue that career path after graduation, but according to an article on edweek.org, CTE is “a new kind of college pathway.”

According to the Career Tech East website, each career track is designed to be a two-year program, and students can earn four credits toward graduation. Applications for the 2019-2020 school year will be accepted through March 8 at http://ctce.desotocountyschools.org.