The Polk School District is celebrating graduations this weekend, but it isn’t just about the issuing of diplomas to youth. It’s also about building them up for their future careers.

A group of students is among those celebrating graduation weekend, but also already holding a set of skills that given them opportunity to be in the workforce now after they completed the HON Project SUCCESS program this week, and graduated on Thursday, June 25.

From the PSD’s facebook page:

“Congratulations to the following students that graduated from the HON Project SUCCESS program Thursday: Adriana Estrada, Jermarius Jackson, Ranferi Pineda, Bladdimir Reyes-Alvarado, Nayeli Ortiz, and Braqorrian Kleinschmidt. These students have been apprentices at HON since their junior year of high school, all while taking college classes in manufacturing and finishing their high school diploma. We commend them for their work ethic and determination! Thank you to HON for their continued partnership and Mrs. Gina Reilly, Youth Apprenticeship Coordinator.”

The program is just one of many that Polk School District has created in past years by partnering with companies in Cedartown and Rockmart – think the robotics program in the Polk County College and Career Academy’s Rockmart campus as another example – that gives students a leg up when they finish their high school years and enter the workforce, or find educational opportunities in community colleges of four-year degrees.