Thomas Edison High School offers career, technology choices

Skye Crane, Katerina Molina, and Briana Pasion|October 29, 2015

Chase Deist

Cooking. Cosmetology. Carpentry. Plumbing. Auto technology.

These are just a few of the many professions students are able to learn about at the Thomas Edison High School of Technology.

Edison offers career and technology education programs to students in grades 10, 11 and 12. Human and consumer services, automotive, and construction are the three clusters of programs offered. Students can earn apprenticeship credits, entry-level skills for specific professions, and several certifications. One program that Edison offers, unlike other schools, is carpentry, and every two years the program builds a house.

For about two hours per day, students can learn all sorts of skills at Edison. Anyone can sign up, as long as they have completed one year of high school and are in the Montgomery County area. “We are basically just looking for kids with a passion,” Edison principal Peter Cahall said.

“Students coming directly out of middle school are not encouraged to apply because they need to get at least a full year of high school credit under their belt before they enter a program that takes them away from their home school for half a day,” Edison community outreach coordinator Karen Wilson said.

The human and consumer services cluster offers courses like medical careers, academy of hospitality and tourism, professional restaurant management, cosmetology, and nail technology. They have Café Edison, a student-operated restaurant, and Edison Salon where students provide  hair, skin and nail services under the supervision of the cosmetology and nail instructors.

Junior Vivian Mendez found the program very appealing. “The moment I stepped into their kitchen, I immediately fell in love,” Mendez said. “ I learned a lot of things, like the claw is a trick that helps prevent you from cutting off your fingers! I also learned how to be more independent.”

If interested in attending Edison, there will be an open house tonight from 5pm-8pm and again on February 4, 2016 for students and parents to see what programs may be of interest to them.