In real life, Kiara Beard is a senior at Overton High School. Today in class, she has a new role: pharmacist.

Beard is part of the high school’s pharmacological science class, which teaches students what they would need to know to work in a pharmacy. Classes like this are part of a new kind of vocational education — though schools don’t use the V-word anymore — and prepare students for a real-world career.

“I need your name, date of birth,” Beard tells a graduate student from Lipscomb University’s pharmacy program, who’s acting as a fake patient. “Do you have any allergies?”

The graduate students are also leading the job simulation: helping the high school students count “pills,” measure solutions and write out prescription labels.

But it’s not just a game. At the end of the school year, students will be able to take the national certification exam to become a real pharmacy technician, right out of high school. The job pays more than $14 an hour on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — nearly twice the minimum wage.

Having that certification will make them instantly marketable, says Ronda Bryant, an assistant pharmacy professor at Lipscomb.

“Most pharmacists want a certified tech,” she says. “Even [compared to] someone who has pharmacy experience but may not have a certification — these students at John Overton may be more qualified to go in and get a job.”

Preparing For The Workforce

The pharmacy class falls under the umbrella of what’s called Career and Technical Education — essentially, vocational training for the modern age. In Nashville, there are dozens of these classes now: In addition to the pharmacy class, offerings include Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Healthcare Administration and Web Design.

The program is part of a nationwide push to encourage students to learn skills that are relevant in today’s workforce. James Stone, director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, estimates that 90 percent of public high school students across the country now take a class that fits into this category. In Nashville, nearly every high school student has to take three of these classes.

“It begins to get young people to prepare for possible pathways they might pursue as adults,” Stone says.

Stone says what’s less common nationwide — but extremely valuable — is for students to get a workforce-approved certification.

“That’s a document that you can take to an employer, and that employer says, ‘Aha! You have the skills I need,’ ” he says.

At Metro Nashville Public Schools, classes are preparing students for career certification exams, including the pharmacy exam. The district pays the cost.

Chaney Mosley oversees Nashville’s career and technical education, and these certifications get him particularly excited.

“When a student from our high schools graduates with one of those certifications and chooses not to immediately pursue higher education, that could be a game-changer,” he says.

College And Career

But Mosley is quick to point out: Career classes are not just for kids going straight into the workforce. Many of the classes also count for college credit, and they still try to create what he calls a “college-going culture.”

“I don’t think it encourages students to not go to college,” he says. “In fact, I would say it does the opposite. It lets students experience success in a related field.”

And it helps them understand the importance of continued learning, he says, wherever that might happen.

In Overton High School’s pharmacy class, senior Sadiq Rahmatullah says he is planning to go to college, maybe to become a physician. But now that he’s taking this class, he hopes to work in a pharmacy during college.

“You can earn money so you can pay your school bill,” Rahmatullah says. “It’s a really good opportunity for me. I don’t want to depend on parents, because I need to depend on myself. I can help myself, and I can help my family too.”

The district says this is what separates career and technical education from vocational education of the past: Students aren’t separated by who wants to go to college and who wants to get a job. They’re all preparing for both.