Winter Park Public Library offers Career Online High School

The Winter Park Public Library always has been a bastion of education and learning, but now it’s taking it up a notch.

In a recent partnership with the state of Florida, the library now will offer Career Online High School for local Winter Parkers looking to earn a high-school diploma and a career certificate.

“My previous director just thought it would be a good thing for us, (because) we are an education place, that we be a resource for folks in our community who are full service library card holders,” Director of Education Ruth Edwards said. “If this is something people want to accomplish, they can do this online as us as their nearest site for support.”

Along with holding a library card, the only other requirements for those interested in the free program is that they be 19 years of age or older and live in Winter Park.

From there, it’s a four-step process to enrolling and officially getting started. First is an online self-assessment done through the state. It’s a short assessment to see if it’s something that will help them meet educational and career goals.

The information from that assessment is reviewed by Edwards and her staff. If the person seems to be a good fit, the next step is for participants to take a requisite career course, completed simultaneously with core high-school classes — which includes math, English, social studies and sciences.

“My previous director just thought it would be a good thing for us, (because) we are an education place, that we be a resource for folks in our community who are full service library card holders."

— Ruth Edwards

When students take those classes as well as a health class and career credit courses, they will earn 18 credit hours of school — a pretty decent workload for folks who will juggling both work, life and now school. It’s why the assessment is so important.

“That is the part about the assessment — figuring out if people are ready to do it and if it is something they actually could do,” Edwards said. “I think time management will be a big part of that, as well. You have 18 credits to complete — are you able to commit the time, the energy and the attention to it to make it happen?”

But for those who can stick it out and commit, the program can help students not only attain a high school diploma, but also it can lead to new jobs.

During the program, participants will be working their way through career-focused courses and will end up with a certificate in one of eight fields — including certified protection officer, certified transportation services and office management.

To offer more help, the state has five scholarships — which requires an interview — available for the library that help pay for additional costs that come from seeking extra certification in fields offered by the library. 

For instance, if someone is working toward a certificate in transportation services and need to get their CDL — which isn’t offered by the program — the scholarship would cover the cost, which in return would help lead that person into their respective field.

“We have helped someone to get their high-school diploma, and then they would get the certification in a specific skill, so that they could go into the workforce — they would be employable,” Edwards said. “So for me, success looks like you’ve finished your high-school degree and you’ve got a job.”