This story has been updated.
Jacob Valle, who is set to graduate from Fox Tech High School in the spring, has ambitious plans to enter the field of neuroscience as a first-generation college student next year.
Donning red scrubs emblazoned with the Fox Tech logo, he spoke with pride about his time at the specialized high school, where, in addition to earning a diploma, he will be graduating with an associate degree in science, as well as technician certifications in patient care, phlebotomy and EKG.
“Without this program, there is no way I would be here,” he said.
The program, which recently expanded to offer a new pathway for students who want to pursue a career in nursing, is one example of a district-wide restructuring of professional programs that began in 2018 with the arrival of Johnny Vahalik, the assistant superintendent for college, career & military readiness.
Valle said he was inspired to join the program after seeing first-hand how not having access to health care impacted family members. He joined in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic thrust health care providers to the frontline.
“Growing up, I was wanting to help, I’ve always been a giver,” he said. “I think the health care industry can help me give back to the community, since my community gave so much to me.”
He also said he wants to break the cycle his family has been in, with no access to higher education or opportunities, to provide that type of change.
Programs target careers in demand
Vahalik was tasked with the restructuring by former Superintendent Pedro Martinez and has continued the work in the last year under Superintendent Jaime Aquino.
“There’s a breadth and depth of jobs in high demand,” he told the San Antonio Report. “We really refocused our programming for college and career readiness on high demand high wage career and college pathways.”
That restructuring meant ending popular programs, like fashion design, and adding more dual credit or certificate programs to existing programs to make them more beneficial for students.
Using Edison High School’s business program as an example, Vahalik said, “We turned that business program into a dual-credit program as a partnership with San Antonio College as a P-TECH business program,” he said. “The same thing at Sam Houston. We had an IT program. We turned it into a cybersecurity dual-credit program.”
With the addition of a nursing program, students will have the opportunity to learn in a fully operational hospital environment, with hyperrealistic mannequins allowing for immersive training experiences.
At a ceremony announcing the expansion, students led groups of supporters and district officials through the new facility.
In one room, where a mannequin with a beating heart was on display, Carissa Hernandez said she didn’t believe her career path, with hopes to become an occupational therapist, was possible.
“I thought only people who have money could do this,” she said. “Knowing that I could get a degree … is really great.”
Aquino echoed that at events celebrating both programs, reflecting on his own journey.
“There’s a narrative in this country that students who look like me are immigrants of color, that English might not be our first language and we come from poor backgrounds, that we are doomed to a life as second-class citizens,” he said. “Fox Tech, with its partnership with the Alamo Colleges and the Methodist Hospital, are showing that that is not true.”
Methodist Hospital Metropolitan and University Health partnered with the school district and college to make the program possible.
Partners operating schools within SAISD, like CAST, a network of career-themed public high schools, are forging other career-plan pathways.
In December, CAST schools partnered with the 80|20 Foundation to allow students to receive access to a comprehensive defensive cybersecurity curriculum and virtual range created by Coherent Cyber Education.
Students will be able to complete various certifications and gain the skills to launch a career in cybersecurity.
First pre-apprenticeship program launches
The latest retooled program in SAISD is the construction program at Sam Houston High School, which was relaunched this year as a pre-apprenticeship in partnership with the City of San Antonio and the Laborers’ International Union of North America. The union is providing an industry-aligned curriculum and helped identify a teacher for the program.
That is key, Vahalik said, in programs like the one at Sam Houston, which struggle to hold onto teachers for the specialized craft.
“I think I’ve gone through several teachers there over the years,” he said. “And so we finally found a partner that would come in, create a pre-apprenticeship model where I know students will get living wage jobs and career pathways after high school.”
Students in the program are working on a campus beautification project, with gardens, a pergola and walking trails with plans for fruit trees that will provide ingredients that the culinary program at the school will use.
That vision is the brainchild of Randall Lawrence, who, until this school year, was working and training union laborers in the field as part of his career in construction.
He said that teaching students has been a learning curve but also life-changing. He compared the opportunity to being as influential as when he got married and the birth of his three children.
“The field versus students is a little different, because in the field, I’m working with adults,” he said. “I’ve learned that you gotta be patient, you gotta be calm, you don’t know the backgrounds of anybody.”
“My compassion and ability to understand what someone’s going through has had to tremendously increase,” he added.
The value of the program, which will provide students with industry-recognized credentials, study-related work experience opportunities, and connections to post-secondary degrees in related programs, is in the guaranteed living wage and mobility, Lawrence said.
“People need a living wage,” he said. “I tell a lot of my students … you guys need to go see the world, do something.”
“You’re at a fork in the road except there’s like 30 directions that that fork could go,” he added.
