Area 31 Career Center at Ben Davis High School is way more than just a high school. 

The career center – as it is commonly called – gives kids the chance to take college classes and earn college credits and also get to take some trade school classes. Students can earn college credits in Advanced Manufacturing, Business and Technology, Communication, Construction and Manufacturing, Health Sciences, Human Services, Public Safety, and Transportation.

Classes are generally two and half hours and they offer rides to students outside of Ben Davis or Wayne township in general. Students from Avon, Brownsburg, Plainfield, Ben Davis, Cascade, Danville, Decatur Central, Decatur Township School For Excellence, Monrovia, Mooresville, Speedway, and Tri-West have been given the opportunity to choose a course of their choice and earn college credits for it, while still in high school, down at the career center.

Praise Ajayi is a 17-year-old senior who helped out with producing games for Radio Broadcast (WBDG) last year and she’s a first-year student in TV Broadcast/ BDTV. And Chloe Belton, who’s also a 17-year-old senior and a second-year student in TV Broadcast/ BDTV.

I interviewed Raquel Ayininuola and Emmanuella Anene, who are both 16-year-old Medical Assisting students. I interviewed Umualqayr Ahmed, a 17-year-old senior that’s currently taking the Early Childhood Education course.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Senior Umualqayr Ahmed.

Why did you choose this class?

Praise: “I really enjoy watching the news they come up with every Friday and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Raquel: “I decided I want more. I also chose it because I want to stack up the acronym, and the titles behind my name. I’m doing it for the titles, yeah.”

Umualqayr: “Mainly because I like working with children and being able to be a part of their lives as they grow.”

Emmanuella: “I chose this class because I intended to work directly with physicians, nurses, and patients. I wanted to get the experiences of the hospital because my future health career lies in the hospital workplace.”

Chloe: “The reason I chose this class is to help with my communication skills and for me to open up and also help me think outside of the box.”

What do you hope to gain from this class?

Praise: “I’m hoping to gain a lot of knowledge on how to work on camera.”

Raquel: “I’m looking forward to the phlebotomy section of the class and advancing my knowledge of anatomy and physiology in this class.”

Umualqayr:  “Lot more knowledge about the kids, behavior-wise, and learning how to calm them down.”

Emmanuella:  “I hope to gain more knowledge because I already have my CNA certificate skills, so I want to add on to my CNA skills, I want to be able to acquire the hospital knowledge.”

Chloe:  “I hope to gain more ideas because I usually just stay in my own little area and this class has helped me to get out and to be myself, and I really hope I get to bring out my personality.”

What is the class about?

Praise:  “It’s basically about filming, editing, camera.”

Raquel:  “Right now, the class is about the steps of becoming a medical assistant and then there are sections of the class where we have Anatomy and Physiology, the health career section, the intro to medicine section, and the history of medicine.”

Umualqayr:  “The class is about knowledge on being able to teach kids and how to teach kids and the ways to make sure they succeed in life.”

Emmanuella: “This class is about helping patients, so setting up appointments, drawing blood, and consulting physicians.”

Chloe: “This class is about just BDTV, about Television and it’s getting you ready for the next level, for the news and getting to do more editing. That’s mostly what the class is basically for and just getting you ready for the higher standards.”

How are you balancing your career center class with your other classes?

Praise: “It’s pretty easy to balance because we haven’t really started anything yet”

Raquel: “I already took a career center class last year so I knew how it was going to fit into my schedule.”

Umualqayr:  “I do it pretty easily because this class takes up most of my day, it’s the only class I have a lot of work to do in.”

Emmanuella:  “With the extra three hours that we have, it’s enough for me to do some of my homework from other classes. I have time to do my regular classwork and I have time to do my career center classwork because I feel like my career center classwork takes more concentration, and more focus so I feel like I have to make a whole plan, a whole timeline for that section.”

Chloe: “I’m actually balancing it pretty well, I mean we do have homework where we don’t take it home of course but I consider BDTV as a calm but fun space, because this is something I enjoy doing, so, I really get my work done with my other classes.” 

Do you like the class so far?

Raquel:  “Not yet but I just need to be more open because it’s very different from the CNA class I took last year. My CNA class was really hard last year but Medical Assisting seems easy right now, so, I’m looking forward to a challenge.”

Umualqayr:  “Yeah, it’s okay.”

Emmanuella:  “I do love the class, we haven’t really learned much about anything yet but I feel like we are getting there, we are starting to learn the history of doctors, of how the whole medical thing started, we’re starting to learn about the code of ethics and everything that I think is going to be beneficial in my future career.”

Chloe: “Oh my gosh, I love this class. This class has different personalities in it so you really get to know new people, see what they like, then put all of our ideas together and it really flows. Our new class of course is just different and everyone puts their different ideas into one and like I really like this class. It’s different.”

What are your expectations for this class?

Raquel: “My expectations for this class are passing the class and coming back when I turn 18 to take my certification exam.”

Umualqayr: “My expectation is to gain more knowledge on children themselves seeing as I took child development and advanced child development last year and you know being able to expand my knowledge with kids. Also because I’m looking forward to becoming either an elementary teacher or a child psychiatrist. ”

Emmanuella:  “I expect to know how to accurately communicate with doctors and be able to assist patients accordingly.”

What concerns do you have regarding the career center? 

Raquel: “The only concern I had was getting back to my 11th period which is Precalculus with Mr. Smith. But you know it’s all about finding shortcuts and I found a shortcut.”

Umualqayr:  “I don’t really have any concerns so far.”

Emmanuella:  “I currently don’t have any concerns, since my Health Science class, I feel like I haven’t wasted my time, I feel like it was worth my time because I have the certificates and I’m able to use those certifications wisely and beneficially.”

Chloe: “No, I don’t have any concerns.”

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Raquel: “No, I don’t have anything else to add.”

Chloe: “Yes there is, I just want to let Mr. Goins know that he is appreciated. And I am more grateful for you than words can express. Thank you for being there for me, guiding me, showing me the way, supporting me & having faith in me. You are an inspiration in my life and I’m so thankful for you.”