Pima Vocational High School will award 31 students their high school diplomas at a June 7 ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. at Hotel Tucson City Center, 475 N. Granada Ave.
PVHS serves young people who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out of traditional high school. For many of the students, Pima Vocational has been their third or fourth school.
Of the 31 students graduating June 7, five are parenting, six are homeless and 12 are working while attending school. Each student will speak at the ceremony before giving flowers to a family member or friend who inspired them on their journey toward a diploma.
One graduate – Harry Goldstein -- will be attending Arizona State University this fall as the recipient of the ASU Academic Achievement Scholar Award. Staff note that it's rare for a PVHS student to go directly to a four-year university, particularly on an academic scholarship. The award bumps up the amount of scholarship money the student has received to $17,000.
Another graduate, Matthew Ramirez, has been invited by Microsoft to be a part of a student panel at the Computer Science Teachers Association’s annual conference this summer in Phoenix. He'll answer questions from computer science teachers across the nation on how his career trajectory has shifted through his participation in the computer science class at PVHS.
The graduates have spent more than 2,400 hours taking vocational courses, have put in 550 hours in workplace internships throughout the city of Tucson and Pima County and have logged more than 1,344 hours working outside jobs while taking classes. Twenty-seven graduates have registered at Pima Community College.
PVHS is a program of the Pima County Community Services, Employment and Training Department. The students, who must meet all of the Arizona Essential Skills requirements to graduate, take courses on resume writing and career skills and can earn paid job placements and internships. In addition, students meet weekly with an advisor and attend classes with 15 or fewer students.
PVHS, a public charter high school for out-of-school youth, is accredited by AdvancED. Accreditation is a voluntary method of quality assurance developed more than 100 years ago by American universities and secondary schools and designed primarily to distinguish schools adhering to a set of educational standards. AdvancED was created through a 2006 merger of the PreK-12 divisions of the North Central Association and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
PVHS offers classes at two campuses: 175 W. Irvington Road and 5025 W. Ina Road in northwest Tucson. Learn more by visiting the Pima Vocational High School website or calling 520-724-9740.