The Bloomington Area Career Center is a school that allows students to learn about many topics including nursing, fire science, and cosmetology. This allows them to gain some experience in their chosen field, as well as work towards a license or certification.

Rebekah Hagberg, (11), takes a trip to BACC  every afternoon to learn about her future career options. She is one of many students learning about the skills required for a trade school job.

The students take a three hour class in their chosen career option, as opposed to the normal 49 minutes, in one of three time slots in which BACC is offered. They take the bus to the career center, and then to another school or facility that specializes in the topic that they are studying.

“I do cosmetology, so that requires us to take a bus to BACC, and then take another bus to Hairmasters, for cosmetology,” Hagberg explained.

The BACC students come from various schools in the area, including Bloomington, Normal Community, Normal West, and U-High. Many schools from other surrounding towns come to study through BACC as well.

Hagberg really likes BACC, not only because it allows her to work towards her cosmetology license, but because she likes to get out and try something different.

“It’s very hands-on, It’s very oriented towards a certain career. So in my case, I’m in cosmetology, and we are in the unit about texture, so we’re learning about the chemical process and the physical process of perming.”

While Hagberg visits the Hairmaster’s school daily, other careers require that the students visit the actual workplace.

Lupe Rivera visits a nursing home, so that she can learn about nursing. Rivera watches the nurses and visits with patients daily.

“We actually go to a nursing home, and we help some of the residents with a lot of stuff, we take their vital signs, and we also help the CNAs with the residents, and we help them grab and get a hold of them. We are learning how to transfer people now.”

The students can take these courses to see how they like a certain career.

“[BACC] lets you kind of sample different careers. So if you’re interested in nursing, you can go take courses, to get your CNA. Or you can decide that nursing is not really for you,” counselor Corey Ostling said.

The students continue to work towards different careers, licenses, and certifications as they work through the year. The students’ next stop after BACC? A great career.