Cobb, Marietta career academies provide
job training, workforce development
Cobb County and Marietta City Schools have both in recent
years opened career academies in their districts.
The academies are meant to offer to students an in-depth look
at more options other than solely a four-year college degree
and to provide training that can be carried directly into highdemand
and often high paying trades and careers.
Cobb Innovation & Technology Academy
Cobb Schools opened the $14.5 million Cobb Innovation &
Technology Academy, on the campus of Osborne High School,
in the fall of 2020.
CITA offers education and hands-on learning in career
pathways grouped into three “pillars”: Maker industries,
Emerging Technologies and Health Care and Community
Services.
The “Maker” pillar consists of automotive, carpentry,
welding, HVAC, masonry, plumbing and electrical;
“Emerging” includes cybersecurity, networking, and energy
and power; and “Health and Community” comprises a
clinical lab, patient care, Emergency Medical Response,
phlebotomy and surgical technology.
Energy and Power was not expected to be available to students
until the 2021-22 school year.
The pillar will include work with digital technologies and
coding, as well as computer forensics, Python, and ethical
hacking. In an increasingly digital workscape, district officials
say, students graduating in the digital-heavy pillar will have a leg
up on their peers in other districts.
Five career pathways make up the health pillar: Clinical Lab, Patient
Care, Emergency Medical, Phlebotomy and Surgical Technology.
Students who choose this pillar will get a range of training and
instruction in critical care in the “medicine and health treatment
industry,” according to Cobb Schools.
“We are preparing students for the next level of
professionalism, knowledge, and skillset in the medical field,”
said lead instructor Natalie Snow. “The resources at CITA will
give the students a chance to get ahead as they begin their
careers as a healthcare professional.”
CITA Director Tiffany Barney said the goal is to build a
“seamless workforce pipeline,” based on area jobs that need filling.
Marietta Schools career academy
Marietta High School’s new college and career academy is set
to provide opportunities in technology, health care and other
career pathways during the 2020-2021 academic year.
110 FACTBOOK | 2022
The academy is a $13.7 million extension with classrooms for
game design and cybersecurity, a newsroom for the newspaper
and yearbook, workshops for drafting and architecture and
more. The district completed the 50,000-square-foot addition
in December of 2019, and students began using the space in
January 2020.
Marietta High School students can study one of about 20
different career pathways, and Principal Keith Ball said many
of those students will be able to work in those fields right
away after graduation.
“They’ll get a certificate if they complete (the career pathway),”
he said, “which will allow them to go into the industry if they
want or have prior knowledge when they go to college.”
In the health care pathway, students can study to be nursing
assistants, athletic trainers, emergency medical technicians or
other health professionals.
In the culinary pathway, students will get front-of-store and
kitchen experience, much like they would in a typical restaurant.
“We’ll teach them how to run a restaurant,” Ball said. “We’ll
teach them how to cook the food. We’ll teach them how to
prepare the food, and then all the sanitizing and cleaning that
goes with it.”
The new culinary space features a walk-in fridge and freezer
“that cost more than my house,” Ball said.
Students can also study audio and video, architecture,
construction, computer science, entrepreneurship and more.
Special-CCSD
Aerial shot of Cobb County School District’s new
Career, Innovation, and Technology Academy
building at Osborne High School.
Staff
Marietta’s 55,000-square-foot college and
career academy, attached to the main Marietta
High School building.
Shannon Ballew
Parents and students enrolled at the Cobb
Innovation and Technology Academy view
welding stations and other equipment.
Special - Marietta City Schools
Marietta students work in a
culinary lab at the high school’s
college and career academy.
EDUCATION
MARIETTA COLLEGE AND
CAREER ACADEMY
Career academy broke ground:
March 2019
Career academy opened: August 2020
Career academy square feet:
67,648 square feet
Overall project cost: $14.5 million
Number of classrooms: 13
Students expected to have class in
academy in 2021-22:
More than 260
Classes/resources offered:
Automotive, carpentry, welding, HVAC,
masonry, plumbing and electrical,
cybersecurity, networking, energy and
power, clinical lab, patient care,
Emergency Medical Response,
phlebotomy and surgical technology.
Career academy broke ground:
July 26, 2018
Career academy opened: Jan. 2020
Career academy square feet:
55,410-square-foot addition, as well as
renovation of an existing 22,670 square feet
Overall project cost: $13.7 million
Number of classrooms: 14
Students expected to have class in
academy in 2021-22: 1,800
Classes/resources offered: Game design
lab, newsroom for the school newspaper
journalism lab, cyber security lab, engineering
lab, construction lab, broadcast video
production lab, expanded culinary arts lab, early
childhood lab, biotech lab, sports medicine lab
and emergency medical responder lab.
COBB INNOVATION AND
TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY