Facebook feeds have been filled recently with photos of students setting up their dorm rooms as parents drop them off at their chosen colleges. But not every high school graduate follows an academic career path.
Plenty of Long Island high school grads pursue programs to become auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, medical assistants and more, enrolling in apprenticeship programs or trade schools or immediately entering the paid workforce. “More people are applying right out of high school than 15 years ago. That’s a definite trend,” says Christopher Kelly, training director for Long Island’s IBEW Local 25 electrical union’s apprenticeship program.
Eastern Suffolk BOCES is also reporting an uptick in its high school Career and Technical Education programs. “From last year, we have 200 more students enrolled in classes and our waitlist doubled,” says Leah Arnold, director of career, technical and adult education. Eastern Suffolk BOCES is serving 2,300 students from 35 school districts from Brentwood to Montauk, she says.
Here are six Long Islanders who have chosen not to attend college, and why they made that decision:
Jessica Brandt, 18, St. James
High school program: Brandt enrolled in a two-year automotive technology program during her junior and senior years at Smithtown High School East, spending part of the school day at the Wilson Tech Northport Campus of Western Suffolk BOCES. During senior year, she built a car engine. She graduated high school in June.
What she’s doing now: Brandt is employed as a technician in training at Habberstad BMW in Huntington Station, doing oil changes, alignment, brake jobs and rim repairs, among other responsibilities.
Why she made this choice: “My parents had always been into cars and car shows. My dad has his own 1983 Hurst Oldsmobile that I learned on when I was a kid. I grew up hands on. I don’t care if it’s a mess, I don’t care if it’s dirty, I want to fix things. I made that my hobby, my career, my everything. It’s the best thing I could have done. My dream job would be to open my own shop.”
Challenges faced: “It was very difficult at first, it was all guys, I was really the only girl.”
Victoria Pettas, 18, Moriches
High school program: William Floyd High in Mastic Beach has programs for students who want to become a medical assistant or a barber. “I’m trying to do both,” Pettas says. She graduated high school in June.
What she’s doing now: She’s working on earning the 500 hours of experience she needs before she can get licensed as a barber; she's currently shadowing an employee at Monti’s Barber Shop in Moriches.
Why she made this choice: She was intrigued that the high school training was free. “You really want to take advantage of free things, instead of paying $10,000 for a program,” she says. She also wanted to get a job as soon as possible after high school. She opted for training as a barber because she says she gets along better with the guys. “I just feel really happy when I see someone who gets a cut and is happy,” she says.
Challenges faced For the medical assistant path, she had to take high school anatomy and chemistry. “It was definitely hard,” she says. She's focusing on the barber path first.
Finnias Wilson, 17, Southampton
High school program: Eastern Suffolk BOCES partners with Southampton High School to run a two-year Residential Construction and Home Improvement program that focuses on construction and carpentry. “After high school I will go to a trade school or go into the work force,” Wilson says. He will graduate this year.
Career goal: Electrician or plumber
Why he made this choice “I really like working with my hands,” he says. In his classes, he says, he participated in rebuilding the dugout for the school’s baseball field and constructed three sheds to be auctioned off to raise money for the program. “This year probably we’re going to build tiny houses and put in electricity and plumbing,” Wilson says.
Challenges faced: “Everybody is always pressing college. I hear it from so many different people that college is a very important thing. I feel like more school isn’t very good for me personally. I decided that I don’t need to spend all this money and be in debt if I know already I’m probably going to go into the workforce.”
Joselin Escobar and Jade Flores, both 18, Hempstead
High school program: Both women graduated from Hempstead High School in June and enrolled at Hunter Business School, a trade school with locations in Levittown and Medford.
Career goal: Medical assistant
Why they made this choice: “I got a preview of it because my sister did it,” says Escobar, whose older sister, Claudia, 21, finished the same program and currently works as a medical assistant. “I’m not really a school person. I didn’t want to do four years,” Escobar says. The Hunter program is seven and a half months and includes a 160-hour externship. Flores says she likes that the trade school, with 700 students between the two loations, is smaller than most colleges and focuses on her personally. She hopes to work in a pediatrician’s office for her externship and is crossing her fingers that if they like her, they’ll keep her on. “We take temperature and height and weight and help set up for the doctors,” she says.
Challenges faced: Escobar is juggling training and caring for her daughter, Eileen, who is a toddler. .
Patrick Dorio, 19, Smithtown
High school program: Dorio enrolled in an Eastern Suffolk BOCES Trade Electric and Alternative Energy program at the Milliken Technical Center in Oakdale while at Hauppauge High School. He graduated in 2021.
Career goal Union electrician; he’s enrolled in a five-year, paid apprenticeship program with IBEW Local 25 in partnership with the Long Island chapter of the National Electrical Contractors.
Why he made this choice: “The second I got my diploma, I went to the union hall and filled out the paperwork. “My whole family was very proud of me when they found out I got the job with the union. Everyone was jumping for joy.”
Challenges faced: “I was very open with my teachers. I got good grades in high school. I very well could have gone to a decent college. I told them, ‘I’m not going to college.’ Their response was ‘You’re not going to college? What?’ But it never really interested me. I would lose my mind sitting in an office chair all day."
Facebook feeds have been filled recently with photos of students setting up their dorm rooms as parents drop them off at their chosen colleges. But not every high school graduate follows an academic career path.
Plenty of Long Island high school grads pursue programs to become auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians, medical assistants and more, enrolling in apprenticeship programs or trade schools or immediately entering the paid workforce. “More people are applying right out of high school than 15 years ago. That’s a definite trend,” says Christopher Kelly, training director for Long Island’s IBEW Local 25 electrical union’s apprenticeship program.
Eastern Suffolk BOCES is also reporting an uptick in its high school Career and Technical Education programs. “From last year, we have 200 more students enrolled in classes and our waitlist doubled,” says Leah Arnold, director of career, technical and adult education. Eastern Suffolk BOCES is serving 2,300 students from 35 school districts from Brentwood to Montauk, she says.
"It used to be college was the only way to make money. People are seeing the value of a vocational education. I do think the perception is changing."
Leah Arnold, Eastern Suffolk BOCES
Here are six Long Islanders who have chosen not to attend college, and why they made that decision:
Jessica Brandt, 18, St. James
Jessica Brandt, 18, of St. James, works as a technician in training at Haberstad BMW in Huntington Station. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
High school program: Brandt enrolled in a two-year automotive technology program during her junior and senior years at Smithtown High School East, spending part of the school day at the Wilson Tech Northport Campus of Western Suffolk BOCES. During senior year, she built a car engine. She graduated high school in June.
What she’s doing now: Brandt is employed as a technician in training at Habberstad BMW in Huntington Station, doing oil changes, alignment, brake jobs and rim repairs, among other responsibilities.
Why she made this choice: “My parents had always been into cars and car shows. My dad has his own 1983 Hurst Oldsmobile that I learned on when I was a kid. I grew up hands on. I don’t care if it’s a mess, I don’t care if it’s dirty, I want to fix things. I made that my hobby, my career, my everything. It’s the best thing I could have done. My dream job would be to open my own shop.”
Challenges faced: “It was very difficult at first, it was all guys, I was really the only girl.”
Victoria Pettas, 18, Moriches
Victoria Pettas, 18, of Moriches practices her barber skills on Carson Allard, 19, of Medford, at Monti's Barbershop in Moriches. Credit: Randee Daddona
High school program: William Floyd High in Mastic Beach has programs for students who want to become a medical assistant or a barber. “I’m trying to do both,” Pettas says. She graduated high school in June.
What she’s doing now: She’s working on earning the 500 hours of experience she needs before she can get licensed as a barber; she's currently shadowing an employee at Monti’s Barber Shop in Moriches.
Why she made this choice: She was intrigued that the high school training was free. “You really want to take advantage of free things, instead of paying $10,000 for a program,” she says. She also wanted to get a job as soon as possible after high school. She opted for training as a barber because she says she gets along better with the guys. “I just feel really happy when I see someone who gets a cut and is happy,” she says.
Challenges faced For the medical assistant path, she had to take high school anatomy and chemistry. “It was definitely hard,” she says. She's focusing on the barber path first.
Finnias Wilson, 17, Southampton
Finnias Wilson, 17, helped build this shed with Benny Diaz, building trades teacher at Southampton High School. Credit: James Carbone
High school program: Eastern Suffolk BOCES partners with Southampton High School to run a two-year Residential Construction and Home Improvement program that focuses on construction and carpentry. “After high school I will go to a trade school or go into the work force,” Wilson says. He will graduate this year.
Career goal: Electrician or plumber
Why he made this choice “I really like working with my hands,” he says. In his classes, he says, he participated in rebuilding the dugout for the school’s baseball field and constructed three sheds to be auctioned off to raise money for the program. “This year probably we’re going to build tiny houses and put in electricity and plumbing,” Wilson says.
Challenges faced: “Everybody is always pressing college. I hear it from so many different people that college is a very important thing. I feel like more school isn’t very good for me personally. I decided that I don’t need to spend all this money and be in debt if I know already I’m probably going to go into the workforce.”
Joselin Escobar and Jade Flores, both 18, Hempstead
Lavette Smith, medical assistant instructor, watches as students Jade Flores and Joselin Escobar, both 18, of Hempstead, demonstrate how to properly wash hands during medical assistant training at Hunter Business School in Levittown.
High school program: Both women graduated from Hempstead High School in June and enrolled at Hunter Business School, a trade school with locations in Levittown and Medford.
Career goal: Medical assistant
Why they made this choice: “I got a preview of it because my sister did it,” says Escobar, whose older sister, Claudia, 21, finished the same program and currently works as a medical assistant. “I’m not really a school person. I didn’t want to do four years,” Escobar says. The Hunter program is seven and a half months and includes a 160-hour externship. Flores says she likes that the trade school, with 700 students between the two loations, is smaller than most colleges and focuses on her personally. She hopes to work in a pediatrician’s office for her externship and is crossing her fingers that if they like her, they’ll keep her on. “We take temperature and height and weight and help set up for the doctors,” she says.
Challenges faced: Escobar is juggling training and caring for her daughter, Eileen, who is a toddler. .
Patrick Dorio, 19, Smithtown
High school program: Dorio enrolled in an Eastern Suffolk BOCES Trade Electric and Alternative Energy program at the Milliken Technical Center in Oakdale while at Hauppauge High School. He graduated in 2021.
Career goal Union electrician; he’s enrolled in a five-year, paid apprenticeship program with IBEW Local 25 in partnership with the Long Island chapter of the National Electrical Contractors.
Why he made this choice: “The second I got my diploma, I went to the union hall and filled out the paperwork. “My whole family was very proud of me when they found out I got the job with the union. Everyone was jumping for joy.”
Challenges faced: “I was very open with my teachers. I got good grades in high school. I very well could have gone to a decent college. I told them, ‘I’m not going to college.’ Their response was ‘You’re not going to college? What?’ But it never really interested me. I would lose my mind sitting in an office chair all day."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
