Students turn to career center for training - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Unemployment across Indiana is at 8.2 percent, just under the national average, but employers with jobs aren't finding workers with the right skills.

That is putting a bigger emphasis on career and technical training programs.

Enrollment is up 50 percent at the J. Everett Light Career Center. Twelve-hundred students from 11 high schools believe they can succeed without four years of college.

Are there good jobs and careers for these students?

"Absolutely!" answered Dana Wilcox as he led students through an automotive repair lesson.

As high schools steer greater numbers of students toward college, Indiana employers are complaining about a shortage of skilled teachers, laborers and tradesmen. In fact, the state has a list of the hottest 50 jobs of the future and about half of them don't require a college education.

"We are supporting the workforce, absolutely," said Shawn Wright Browner, director of Career Technical Education at the career center.

Browner says the demand for skilled labor is improving perceptions, curriculum, and expectations of what use to be called "vocational training."

"We are preparing students for college and the workplace. So the image is changing. It's been changing slowly over the years," Browner said.

Culinary students are prepping for the public opening of a lunch café - a business they will learn to run. The Light Café is a business they will learn to run from the kitchen to the cash register and dining room.

Similar hands-on experience in a digital media arts class, Chelsa Yurn says, will jump start her advertising career.

"It is not about making the art you want to make, it's about making the art that needs to be made, real world," Yurn said.

Many career classes earn students valuable technical certifications and college credits, should they decide to pursue a degree. That is something Abigail Walton, a culinary arts student, isn't ruling out.

"It's definitely a major issue in my family. They talk about college all the time," she said.

Times are changing for students and employers taking a new look at bare knuckle, cutting edge opportunities.

Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs