iLEAD Academy opened three years ago to help prepare Northern Kentucky students for careers in high-paying, high-demand fields. It uses a wonky weapon – labor-market data – to design course offerings that won’t leave students in dead-end jobs, and to give them solid advice that’s grounded in the needs of regional employers.
As a future high school science teacher, Michaela Stethen, an iLEAD junior, knows that she can get an annual salary of $37,358. But she must earn a bachelor’s degree first.
Otilio Flores, another iLEAD student, earned his industrial-maintenance-technician certification at the end of his sophomore year. With a high school diploma in addition, he could be an industrial maintenance tech and earn nearly $37,000 a year. But Otilio is pursuing an associate degree so he can earn thousands more as an electro-mechanical technician.
Student Storm Mitchell wants to work in robotics and travel internationally. She could earn more than $81,000 as a robotics technician if she goes on to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Dawson Allen, a junior at iLEAD Academy, works on his laptop in the lobby of his school. The school doesn’t have typical classrooms; students are free to lounge and work throughout the building.