Georgetown ISD’s Career and Technical Education programs are designed to set students up for success by equipping them with the practical skills, certificates, and hands-on experience needed to excel in the workforce and contribute to their community. Starting in August, students will have even more opportunities to succeed thanks to GISD’s new Future Ready Complex.
The $97 million, 214,000-square-foot facility is located at 5001 Airport Road in northwest Georgetown and was constructed using funds from the district’s 2021 bond. “The idea was to create a space for advanced level CTE programs that would allow us to minimize the amount of equipment we needed to purchase, and also give students the same industry-grade opportunities in high school they’d experience in the real world,” CTE Director Bretton Schulz says. “We will also be able to take some students off the main campus and provide some relief to overcrowding at the high schools as well.”
The new facility will offer a wide range of advanced CTE programs for all GISD high school students including:
- Culinary Arts: With four industrial grade commercial kitchen stations and complemented by a practical line kitchen, students will gain invaluable experience in a real-world restaurant setting. In addition, a 4,000-square-foot public space will enable students to showcase their culinary skills by preparing food for a variety of community events.
- Cosmetology: Thanks to a partnership with SportClips, GISD’s cosmetology program will double its capacity and add industry grade equipment. Students will also have the chance to hone their skills in a salon and spa that will be open to the public.
- Health Science: The Health Science program will double its lab space and create a simulated hospital room with a mannequin that can simulate any medical emergency found in a hospital.
- Automotive: The automotive program will feature a shop with eight bays, all modeled after modern dealership service centers.
- Advanced Engineering: Students will focus on civil engineering and digital electronics through an expanded Advanced Engineering program.
- Rocketry: The expanded Rocketry program will enable students to collaborate while designing and building rockets capable of achieving significant altitudes and carrying payloads. Students will participate in annual rocket certification events, gaining practical aerospace engineering experience through a partnership with Systems Go and NASA engineers.
- Drones: Students will learn how to build drones and will have the opportunity to earn their FFA Drone Pilot license. This program is enhanced for the upcoming school year thanks to a $450,000 grant from the FAA.
- Aerospace Maintenance: Through a partnership with Georgetown-based Tango Flight, students will gain hands-on experience by building an airplane in a fully equipped shop.
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION HUB
The space will also be home to Richarte High School (previously located adjacent to the Georgetown High School campus), Early Learning Center, and the GISD Health & Wellness Center in partnership with Lone Star Circle of Care. Bretton, who will also be Richarte’s new principal this school year, is especially excited for Richarte’s new home. “It will give us a space uniquely their own and allow them to create some identity and branding they haven’t necessarily had before.”
The Bridges program’s new home at the center will do the same thing for its participants, he adds. The program focuses on helping students ages 18-22 with special needs gain life skills and more independence. A new Bridges Boutique will be open to the public and sell a variety of goods made by the students. In addition, the Early Learning Center — a daycare program for GISD staff and teen parents — will double its capacity and receive “much-needed upgrades.”
Bretton notes that the GISD Future Ready Complex is in its first phase and will add more programs over the next few years such as building trades, advanced manufacturing, and audio video production.
Scan the code to learn more about the Future Ready Center.