Heather Novis knew she wanted to become a nurse when she watched her aunt help her brother through treatment for Burkitt’s lymphoma, an uncommon but aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that affects children. “Seeing her help him made me want to help others,” said Novis, 22, who spent her middle and high school years at […]
Polk State College’s 16,000 students will soon have an easier path to a four-year degree at Florida Polytechnic University as the presidents of both institutions formalize an agreement they’ve been working on for a year. The transfer-articulation agreement means students who graduate from Polk State with an associate of arts degree will be allowed to […]
With a host of logistics companies like Saddle Creek calling Polk County home, the need for a talented, highly skilled workforce in supply chain management is critical. “Central Florida, and in particular Polk County, is the distribution hub for approximately 10 million people in a 100-mile radius,” according to Dr. James Fenton, dean of the […]
Brothers from Brazil find educational success on their path to becoming chemical engineers. Miguel Amador was entering kindergarten when his parents moved the family from Araraquara, Brazil, to Lakeland in 2004. His brother, Victor, was part way through first grade. Speaking only Portuguese, they credit Valleyview Elementary School with ensuring they learned English. And they […]
As construction continues to accelerate in Polk County, builders look for employees who can show up for work on time, ready to tackle that day’s project. They’re getting help from the Polk County School District. This year, the district opened four new construction academies, which are modeled after the first one at Bartow High School. […]
Crediting challenging AP classes, Michael Jernigan, a graduate of Bartow High School, isn’t surprised he’s studying electrical engineering at Florida Polytechnic University. Jernigan is being profiled as part of a series on students who attended Polk County Public Schools and are now pursuing STEM-related degrees in colleges here and across the country. He loved to […]
As Erick Meza prepares to graduate from Harvard University, he reflects on the education he received from Polk County Public Schools, one that helped prepare him for four rigorous years at the Ivy League college. Now 22, Erick graduated from the International Baccalaureate High School in Bartow, Florida in 2015. The son of Meliton and […]
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 […]