News

Graduation Rate Rises to over 80 Percent for the Polk County School District

December 20, 2018 News, Success Stories, Talent Pipeline

Polk County Public Schools is pleased to announce that the school district’s graduation rate rose to 80.4 percent in 2017-18, an annual increase of 5.0 percentage points, according to the latest data from the Florida Department of Education. “I’m happy that we are graduating more students each year,” said Jacqueline M. Byrd, Superintendent of Polk […]

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Winter Haven Hospital and FSU Closing Gap on Healthcare

November 15, 2018 News, Success Stories, Talent Pipeline

Dr. Nathan Falk recites statistics easily, indicating he’s already done considerable research during his three weeks as the first program director for the Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program at Winter Haven Hospital. For instance, did you know that more people ages 18 to 64 are insured in Polk County than […]

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Meet the Employees of Tomorrow

September 4, 2018 News, Talent Pipeline

Connecting college students with careers in Polk is an important goal for the Central Florida Development Council and Polk Vision — and the main reason behind an upcoming career fair. “All of our schools are very different and we attract different employers, so I think having a countywide fair is the perfect way to expose […]

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Four Reasons Workforce Education is Important in Polk County

June 14, 2018 News, Success Stories, Talent Pipeline

“The Polk County School District’s workforce education programs offer countless and invaluable benefits to our students,” said Marc Hutek, assistant superintendent of career, technical, adult and multiple pathways. “Through these programs, students are introduced to potential careers, they begin building skills and earning certifications, and they participate in numerous experiential opportunities, all of which help them […]

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Robotics Students Feed the Talent Pipeline

March 20, 2018 News, Success Stories, Talent Pipeline

At Winter Haven High School’s Technobotics Academy, students are building real world skills they can use in technology-related jobs — jobs that are on the rise in the area as the result of strategic Polk County economic development efforts. They study mechanical engineering, computer programming, physics, and use kits to build robots. Each year in […]

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