On the corner of US 31 and Timberline Drive rests the Central Nine Career Center. To some, an opportunity to gain valuable work experience, but to the majority of Center Grove students, it remains a mystery. Whether it be construction, health science, transportation, or culinary, C9 has opportunities for CG.
Senior Aiden Murray is a part of the Fire and Rescue program at C9 where he trains daily to help people in emergencies. C9 provides as much as five of the necessary certifications required to become a firefighter in the state of Indiana.
“I chose to do C9 because it gives me five certifications,” Murray said. “Last year it gave me Firefighter One, Firefighter Two, Hazmat Awareness, and Hazmat Operations. This year I will get my Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification. The only bad/good thing about these is in order to get these certifications, you must study and do whatever it takes to gain the information you need or else you won’t pass your state tests, so overall it can be very rewarding.”
Fire and Rescue is just one of the 27 programs C9 offers, though. Courses ranging from Auto Collision Repair to Culinary Arts offer a diverse palate of career paths.
“C9 has affected schooling for me in several different ways,” Murray said. “For me, in fire class gave me more people that I have stuff in common with to work with. It also taught me how to stay motivated, how to stay on task more, and how to work harder out on the fire ground even when we did bookwork. It also helped me get into the Bargersville cadet program where I got early experiences with their fire department.”
C9 cultivates a distinctive atmosphere and culture by integrating essential career skills with traditional learning outside of school boundaries. There is a unique interconnectedness in each career path because each class consists of students from different high schools across Indiana.
“In each class, you’re all there for the same reason, and it really does create this community-like feeling which really empowers C9 to work the way it does,” senior Kristiana Golojuch said.
Golojuch is a current Emergency Medical Services student, but her path wasn’t limited to just one option when she got to C9. The school encourages students to take new classes and to gain as much experience as they can trying other fields so that they can explore what’s right for them. And with ten different high schools feeding into it, the community can vary more than a typical high school experience.
C9 also provides benefits that extend past high school and into college.
“C9 gets you college credits, it gets you more opportunities, you get to do your career, you get your GPA up, and you get your foot in the door to the career you want,” Senior Mckenna Coy said.
A possible draw of technical schools like C9 is that students almost immediately enter the workforce or an apprenticeship upon graduation instead of going on to a college institution for two or four more years of schooling.
“At CG, you won’t focus on one thing. You have to do a lot of work, but at C9, you can focus on the career you want,” Coy said.
Those who choose to attend C9 will receive a CORE 40 degree with technical honors if they complete the standards required. Classes begin junior or senior year for most students, but C9 also offers an adult education path past high school. C9 can be a useful resource for students interested in technical careers and other job areas that colleges or high schools may not focus on, and it gives students at CG more choices in how their lives may look after high school. The high school is offering tours to C9 on November 7, 10, and 19 if students would like more information.
