As students head toward the end of their secondary education, it can be difficult to decide what comes next. Some may choose to attend a traditional four-year college, while others prefer to promptly enter the workforce. To help students find out what is right for them, Southeast Community College offers high school students the opportunity to enroll in the Southeast Nebraska Career Academy Partnership, also known as SENCAP.
Low-cost college and career prep
SENCAP allows high school juniors and seniors to explore a career field of their interest through college-level coursework and hands-on experiences. Students can earn college credits and credentials while also getting a chance to build bridges with future employers through job shadowing, field trips and presentations by professional speakers. Putting together a resume, writing cover letters and practicing interview skills are also part of the program.
Currently, all public schools in SCC’s 15-county service area, as well as many parochial schools, participate in SENCAP. To support SENCAP students while they prepare for their future career or postsecondary education, the college waives half of the tuition and fees. The other half is either covered by the student or their K-12 school district, where funding is available. With the cost of college tuition on the rise everywhere, this can make a huge difference financially for students and their families.
SENCAP students can choose a pathway from a variety of industries such as agriculture, automotive technology, business, health sciences, manufacturing in energy and welding and many others. These pathways can count toward one to two semesters of a student’s college curriculum. This gives students the freedom to either graduate early, prepare to enter the workforce, or even take lighter course loads each semester, leaving time for extracurricular activities or work opportunities.
New pathways coming fall 2022
One of the new and expanded pathways coming in the fall semester of the 2022 Fall Semester is Academic Transfer.
“We recommend it for all of our students who don’t intend to continue on at SCC. If they decide to go to a four-year school, they can take eight classes and it would shave off 20% of their bachelor’s degree,” says Dr. Brian Stark, senior administrative director at SENCAP. “They are all general education courses, and they transfer to any school in the state of Nebraska. This allows them to jump into some of the courses for their chosen discipline right away at the college level.”
Another exciting new pathway coming this fall is practical nursing.
“Practical nursing is a big part of our smaller communities that we service,” says Stark. “The core classes for LPN would shave off one semester so a student would only need one more year at SCC to graduate.”
For those students who plan to begin their career when they graduate high school, SENCAP offers courses that earn credentials and certificates to give them a leg up when job hunting.
“We recently realigned some of our pathways so we are now offering eight college credentials for high school students. For example, with the business pathway they can get a general business certificate,” says Stark. “Our goal is to help support students so if they decide they don’t want to continue on to college they have some credentials when they graduate high school. If they do decide to go on, these credentials are stackable with our associate degrees.”
Future leaders start here
SENCAP looks to the Perkins V Needs Assessment for each of the counties in its service area to ensure they are offering pathways that will equate to high-wage, high-demand jobs for students upon graduation.
“We are doing CDL certificates, which might scare some folks that a high school senior — the course is for seniors only — might be behind a big rig, but it is actually the number one most in-demand job in Lancaster County as well as our 15-county region,” says Stark.
The goal of SENCAP is to create an educated workforce that is ready to start long-term careers sooner. By helping high school students prepare for college and improve their career prospects, Southeast Community College is building a brighter tomorrow.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to support our local communities and our future leaders,” says Stark.
For more information, visit southeast.edu/sencap.
