Tulsa Co. High School Students Learn About Career Opportunities

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office is teaming up with Tulsa Tech to show there are more options than students realize.

Not every student who graduates high school strives for college and some local organizations are making sure they know there are great career options out there. Tulsa Tech offers everything from welding to criminal justice classes. Wednesday, high school students got a chance to learn more about it.

About 200 Tulsa area students put their future into focus Wednesday. For the third year in a row, "Living the Dream" is showing high school students that college isn't the only path after graduation.

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado said these kids can have successful careers in a variety of fields.

"Those are the kids we really want to get to, the ones that didn't know that they don't have to go and pursue a college education immediately after high school," said Regalado.

9th and 10th-grade students heard from teachers and industry professionals about careers in welding, health science, cosmetology, and criminal justice.

"In today's world, there are options and, again, that can be very lucrative and provide them a lifelong career," said Regalado.

Almost every student there came from a Hispanic background. Tulsa Tech student Katelyn Breecher helped translate so students could learn more about careers in the criminal justice field.

She says there are resources that Spanish-only speaking students can take advantage of.

"They're coming to Tulsa Tech, not knowing that they have this opportunity, and there's people here that can translate for them and that they can learn English," said Breecher.

She said exposing minorities to these options is a great opportunity and will help a lot of kids.

"For me, it's very important at least, my family is Peruvian, so there's not too many of us here. and I take a lot of pride in being Hispanic."

At the closing ceremonies, one of the students received a $500 scholarship provided by Morelos Supermercados.