As the 2023-2024 school year wraps up, Syieda Tomlinson continues to look back on what she calls an academic experience that made her goal of becoming an obstetrician more of a reality.
For months, Syieda spent two days out of the school week traveling between her home in Ward 7 and the Advanced Technical Center (ATC) in Northeast. At the ATC, she and other D.C. public and public charter school students complete nursing coursework through which they could accumulate college credits and acquire a certification.
Since enrolling in the ATC this year, Syieda has gathered much knowledge and hands-on experience from college professors. She counts among her most memorable experiences taking blood samples and conducting research about period poverty — a phenomenon where girls and women are unable to afford and access menstrual products.
“The classes I’m taking now give me a feel for the future,” said Syieda, a junior at Columbia Heights Education Campus in Northwest. “I will know some of the information I need in order to finish college. A program like this gives me a feel of the medical field to help me decide on the future before I’m stuck on a career and it’s too late.”
The ATC, now in its second year of existence, has served 191 public and public charter school students — including Syieda and her colleague Almeria King, a junior at Eastern Senior High School. Since its inception, the program has saved students nearly $900,000 in college costs.
Trinity Washington University and the University of the District of Columbia serve as partner institutions.
On June 7, after Syieda and Almeria spoke before an audience of principals and local and national education officials at the ATC, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced yet another partnership anticipated to take ATC to the next level.
A $9.5 million investment from Bloomberg Philanthropies will go toward the expansion of the current ATC, the establishment of another ATC at St. Elizabeths East Campus in Congress Heights and the launch of a post-high school bridge program that’s led by the D.C. Hospital Association.
Earlier this year, Bowser allocated $22 million in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget toward ATC programming and a new health clinic at St. Elizabeths East Campus that provides health care services and training for students. She also announced a $4.2 million Career Connected High School grant that the Office of the State Superintendent of Education received from the Biden-Harris administration.
As Jenny Kane of Bloomberg Philanthropies explained, the partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the District was a year in the making, starting with a meeting between Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bowser administration and the Biden-Harris administration at the Lemuel Penn Center.
In her remarks, Bowser acknowledged Kane, Lael Brainard, the Biden-Harris administration’s national economic advisor, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, Washington Teachers Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, D.C. Public Schools Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee and State Superintendent Christina Grant.
She would later reflect on the importance of this public-private partnership for the long-term sustainability of the District’s education and healthcare ecosystems.
“This is part of our work to reimagine high school and blur the lines between high school, college and career,” Bowser said. “We want students to graduate and be ready for the next step. We want to make sure in every part of our city, we have access to high-quality programs and students are preparing for high-wage, high-demand jobs in cybersecurity and nursing.”
Per D.C. Department of Employment Services, D.C. will need at least an additional 570 nurses by 2030, along with 700 people to fill new positions in licensed practical nursing, medical assistance and nursing assistance. Once it opens, the new ATC in Congress Heights, based in Ward 8, will serve 75 students.
That number will grow incrementally, Grant told The Informer.
Weingarten, a former social studies teacher, reflected on experiences in the classroom where students on the technical and trades track exhibited the capacity for critical thinking, like what’s often expected of students who pursue a liberal arts education. For her, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ contribution helps reverse a trend that has marginalized a segment of the student population while decimating the U.S. workforce.
“What career technical education does is create choice and opportunity for our kids. It’s taking passion and meeting it with purpose… We have a shortage of nurses. How do we then align the workforce choices with opportunity with our kids when we have them in high school,” she questioned. “How do we prepare them with the certification and critical thinking? How do we make sure we connect [them] with the employees so they have an imagination of what can be?”
While she hasn’t quite decided what career path she wants to pursue, Almeria told The Informer that she continues to learn lessons that are preparing her for her future profession.
Since entering the ATC, Almeria has participated in urine testing and taken a deeper look into what’s required of her as she takes a sample of postsecondary education.
“It has made my school day more interesting,” said Almeria, a Ward 8 resident. “It helped me prepare for the workforce [because I have] to balance my work sometimes. I take a day off from [the ATC] but there’s work at school. It’s about managing the work. If you have a good work ethic, it should be a breeze.”
