Growing our own entrepreneurs and keeping them in Polk County, especially in STEM-related fields, remains a focus the economic development community. To that end, SlingShot Polk encourages people under the age of 25 to innovate or design their own inventions and start their own businesses. To help, SlingShot Polk offers prize money to get the […]
Alexis Dauphinais always considered going into the medical field, following in her parents’ footsteps. A second installment in our series showcasing students who attended Polk County Public Schools and are either pursuing degrees in STEM fields or recently started working in STEM-related jobs. Dauphinais, 28, is not the traditional college student on the campus of […]
Margaret and Joanna Sands attended public schools for 12 years in Polk County, spending their formative high school years at Summerlin Academy in Bartow. The military school may have seemed like an odd choice for the STEM-oriented Winter Haven twins, but one thing attracted them: Japanese. “They ended up there because they got interested in […]
Governor DeSantis could bring new support and enthusiasm for workforce training and development, something needed in Polk County and around Central Florida. “I have heard that he is an advocate for a strong economy, which means a strong workforce for vibrant business growth,” said Stacy Campbell-Domineck, president and CEO of CareerSource Polk, a “non-profit corporation […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]