Some students like academic work and thrive in high school. For others, it鈥檚 a real drag.
One of those people is Mac Connor. When the 18-year-old talks about it, he does so in a short, matter-of-fact way.
鈥淚 was never really a fan of school," Connor says.
In high school, Connor didn鈥檛 know why he needed to learn the basics 鈥� you know, reading, writing and arithmetic 鈥� over and over again.
鈥淵ou add on just a little bit more. Just one year after another year, it鈥檚 just a little bit harder, a little bit harder, a little bit harder,鈥� Connor says. 鈥淵ou kind of get the gist. There鈥檚 a lot of jobs that you do need that. But for me, I really don鈥檛 need to learn that stuff.鈥�
Connor knew what he wanted to do 鈥� work on cars as a mechanic. But school wasn鈥檛 preparing him for that, so there was no incentive to go.
This changed, however, when he visited his sophomore year. Fort Hayes is a magnet school with a career-technical education. Students attend their home school for half the day and learn career skills at Fort Hayes during the other half.
When Connor learned about their automotive mechanic program, he decided to finish up his junior and senior years at Fort Hayes.
The school is tapped into the needs of local employers, one of which is the Central Ohio Transit Authority. Tracy Spikes, a learning and development coordinator for COTA, says her company needs more mechanics and thought that Fort Hayes could help.
鈥淪o we knew that we had a shortage in mechanics and we had to think about what resources in the communit