Schools offering new career, tech courses

HARLINGEN — Students are flocking in for some new courses offered by the Harlingen school district.

Harlingen is offering career and technology coursework in plumbing, EMT, HVAC (heating and air conditioning) and diesel mechanic, said Alicia Noyola, chief academic officer.

And that’s not all.

“We had quite a bit of kids that were interested in the veterinary assistant program,” Noyola said. “We were thinking we were going to offer one section. We thought there would be one section of kids that would be interested, maybe about 20 kids.”

But it was a little more than that.

“We actually wound up needing two sections,” Noyola said.

She was especially impressed that so many students were willing to travel by bus to Harlingen High School South.

“Sometimes kids don’t really want to do that,” she said. “They don’t want to load a bus and go. We actually had 20 kids from Harlingen High School that said, ‘We’ll get on the bus and we’ll go across town to take this course.’ I was really glad to see that degree of interest.”

The other new courses have also generated interest.

“The EMT program is actually going to be open to our kids that are in the firefighter program,” she said. “All firefighters have to go through an EMT training. We’re giving that opportunity for our firefighters to also pick up that certification since it’s something they are going to need when they join a firefighter position.”

Last year the district launched a successful Firefighters Academy.

An auto mechanic program already in place is now being complemented by a new course.

“The diesel mechanic is being offered in conjunction with our auto mechanics program,” he said. “We want students who have expressed interest in that.”

The whole district is excited about the new programs, and so are many students.

“There are five brand new opportunities and they’ll all offer an industry certification for students,” Noyola said. “That’s been a big focus of ours to provide students with an opportunity with something other than a high school diploma.”