Running Start for High Schoolers

So many high school students would like to begin earning money immediately after graduation, whether it be due to financial stress at home or to help finance higher education. Students in the St. Petersburg Collegiate High Schools Biomedical Engineering Technology (BMET) Academy will begin studies that will earn them credentials for lucrative careers when the program debuts in Fall 2023.

Located at St. Petersburg College’s Tarpon Springs Campus, the BMET Academy is supported by the $9 million federally funded CRRSA ESSER II — Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant, which supports workforce education programs in high-demand fields across the state. Students can complete an Associate in Science in Biomedical Engineering Technology at no cost to their families, all while earning a high school diploma.

This A.S. degree focuses on innovative technology like cybersecurity and electronic hardware used in medical devices such as defibrillators, ventilators, patient monitors and imaging machines. Students take classes in electronics, computers, networking and biology.

“We are really excited about creating another accelerated option for our students,” said Ryan Halstead, Principal of Collegiate High Schools North Pinellas. “The BMET program will provide them the opportunity to immediately pursue a career or to advance their education after high school.”

The new BMET Academy joins SPC’s Collegiate High Schools ecosystem, which opened its first charter school in 2004 at the college’s St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus. The North County campus in Tarpon Springs was opened in 2019, and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) High School at the college’s Downtown Center launched in Fall 2022.

A degree in this field trains students to meet the growing need for biomedical equipment repairers, who maintain the sophisticated medical devices that patients’ lives depend on. The BMET Academy will help build a pipeline of personnel who will work within diverse sectors, such as healthcare, research and education.

Students can take part in an internship, industry tours, professional association meetings and technical workshops by industry leaders. With the credentials they’ll earn, they will be able to go straight to work in hospitals or medical device companies, often in the information technology or electronics support technician groups in medical environments.
Brian Bell, lead faculty for SPC’s BMET programs