LOOKING to the S ome Cobb County high school students are getting a realistic look at the working world that they are fast approaching. The Cobb Innovation & Technology Academy (CITA) opened in 2020 as a tuition-free, cutting-edge vocational education program for the Cobb County School District. The state-of-the-art facility in Marietta cost $14.5 million to build and takes students far beyond the shop classes of yesteryear. The CITA's high-tech classrooms mimic workplace settings. Health care classrooms resemble hospital rooms, complete with mannequin " patients " preprogrammed with ailments. The construction lab has wiring and plumbing models and a heavyequipment simulator that is controlled and vibrates like a real excavator or bulldozer. And automotive-repair students can get under the hoods of traditional and hybrid models. The academy's mission is to prepare students for life after high school, whether at a two-year or four-year college or in the military or workforce, CITA Director Tiffany Barney says. " We want all our students to be career-ready, whatever route they choose to get there, " she says. The CITA embodies the new school-to-work model gaining traction across the nation. Instead of being inside a traditional high school, these technology and career centers are separate facilities. Some have labs and equipment that rival those at technical community colleges. Vocational education here and at public high schools 20 Georgia Magazine January 2023 Top left: Health care classes prepare students for work in clinical labs. Top right: Automotive students work with an electric car inside the lab. They also can work on a gas-powered car to learn about internal combustion engines. Above: This rendering shows the Cobb Innovation & Technology Academy, a $14.5 million vocational education facility for Cobb County high schoolers that was built on the campus of Osborne High School. FUTURE Cobb Innovation & Technology Academy gets students workforce-ready By Laura Berrios * Photos courtesy of Cobb County School District ISTOCK.COM / SOLOLOS