PCI: Where Education is the Key

This fall East Point will have a new educational option: the Promise Career Institute. It’s part of Fulton County Schools three-year comprehensive Bridge to Success Plan and will use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to help students recover from learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school is geared to providing training and certifications needed by students to move into a job after graduation or gain additional education at a college or technical college.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we were having students who simply weren’t coming back to school,” says Dr. Jason Stamper, the institute’s principal. “They simply got jobs because everyone was doing school virtually.”

Many students didn’t find virtual education engaging, so they turned to work to help support their families.

Promise offers high school students an alternative diploma called the accelerated career diploma, according to Stamper.

“It gives students a high school diploma but also gives them certification in specific areas that they can come out of high school with not just a job, but a career making more money than they ever would think (possible),” he says.

Dual Enrollment

The school is partnering with Atlanta Technical College to provide high quality instruction in a variety of career areas.

“Atlanta Technical College provides the college dual enrollment aspect arm of the Institute,” says Stamper.

Programs of Study

Programs include Automotive Technology, Avionics Technology, Computer Networking, Cybersecurity, Design and Media Production, Diesel Technology, Early Childhood Care and Education, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Welding. Some programs will be taught at Promise, with others offered on the Technical College campus.

The school offers young people “free college courses, and free certification in those areas,” Stamper says.

Internships & Apprenticeships

Students can engage in internships and apprenticeships, which Stamper says, “gives them a taste of the day-to-day work life in the major.”

The school’s programs provide an opportunity for “generational change,” says Stamper. “[Many of these students] may live in suboptimal conditions with suboptimal incomes and don’t have access to this type of training.”

The school partners with area banks to offer financial seminars along with other life skills.

“When the students are in ninth and 10th grades, we do a financial literacy class because with the type of money they will be making, we want to make sure they are properly supported,” he explained. “We want them to have a mindset about saving, about spending and about budgeting their money.”

When the school opens in August, it will be able to accommodate about 350 students, Stamper says.

For those students, it will be a bridge to a new opportunities and will help build a strong workforce that will power South Metro’s expanding economy.

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