ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — St. Petersburg Collegiate High Schools will open a new academy devoted to biomedical engineering technology (BMET) on the St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs Campus in Fall 2023. BMET Academy college students can full an Associate in Science in Biomedical Engineering Technology whereas concurrently incomes their highschool diploma – utterly freed from cost.

Funded by a Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant, the A.S. diploma trains college students to satisfy the rising want for biomedical gear repairers, who keep the subtle medical gadgets that sufferers’ lives rely upon. The BMET Academy will assist construct a pipeline of personnel for well being care, business, analysis and academic establishments. 

“Employment opportunities for technicians are expected to expand greatly in the next decade,” mentioned Natavia Middleton, Dean of Natural Sciences and Engineering at SPC.

Academy graduates might be ready for careers in a scorching job market, the place they will earn a median wage of $49,910 in the United States, $47,130 in Florida, and $46,620 within the Tampa Bay space. 

“It’s called ‘critical needs’ for a reason, and these are good-paying jobs,” mentioned Jackie Skryd, Vice President of Workforce Development & Corporate Partnerships at SPC. “Our medical device field is upward of $47,000 with just a certification. If they get a four-year degree and some experience, it’s double that.” 

The new academy joins St. Petersburg College’s lauded Collegiate High Schools ecosystem, which opened its first constitution faculty in 2004 on the faculty’s St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus. A North Pinellas County possibility in Tarpon Springs, Florida, was opened in 2019, and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math High School on the faculty’s Downtown Center in St. Petersburg launched in Fall 2022.

“We are really excited about creating this opportunity for our students to pursue career opportunities through education or advance their education opportunities through a career pathway,” mentioned Ryan Halstead, Principal of Collegiate High Schools North Pinellas.

The A.S. diploma consists of three non-obligatory stand-alone certificates, relying on the coed’s focus, and transfers to SPC’s bachelor’s diploma in Technology Development and Management or the Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Engineering Technology Management at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. 

Visit spchs.spcollege.edu/bmet-academy.

This materials was totally funded by the $9 million federally funded CRRSA ESSER II – Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant. 

For extra data, contact Rita Farlow, AVP, Marketing and Strategic Communications, 727-302-6526.

SOURCE St. Petersburg College