Stan Wilkison
HANCOCK COUNTY — A new director has been named for the collaborative high school Hancock County Center, also known as Hancock County Career Center or HC3.
A recent Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation press release announced that Stan Wilkison will take on the new role as director part time this fall while also working his current position as assistant principal of Mt. Vernon High School. Wilkison will work both positions until the director position becomes full time when the building will open in 2026.
“Career and technical education has always been a passion of mine, so I am extremely excited for this opportunity,” Wilkison said. “The chance to provide meaningful educational experiences to a larger group of students is a true personal reward…”
The career and technical education classes, CTE classes, offered at HC3 are a variety of courses and programs that help students in Hancock County better prepare for post secondary education and the workforce after high school. These CTE classes are offered to grades 9-12.
“Students participating in the shared programs will earn dual credits and/or industry standard certifications that will accelerate their post-secondary education and/or allow them to directly enter the workforce,” Wilkison said.
Wilkison’s became assistant principal of Mt. Vernon High School in 2017, and since then has been able to add more ways for student success, such as the Indiana College Core and Education Apprenticeship Program.
As director, Wilkison will oversee all operations at the center, and be responsible for promoting the CTE courses with counselors at all the four county schools.
Currently, the four county schools offer a variety of dual-credit CTE courses in-house. Classes are held in the morning and/or afternoons depending on the host school. Mt. Vernon is hosting aviation, health science, welding and criminal justice. Greenfield High School is hosting heating, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC. Computer science and veterinary science are starting this fall for Eastern Hancock students, and Southern Hancock High school students will be able to look forward to Construction Trades being launched in the near future.
In the recent press release, Wilkison stated, “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed expanding vocational opportunities for Mt. Vernon students as well as developing new partnerships with the other three schools.”
During his time at Mt. Vernon High School, Wilkison has been able to develop seven CTE classes. With that, 2,500 hours of dual-credits have been earned and more than 215 industry standard certifications given out.
He also stated in the press release, “Last year, a career center for high school students was just a concept and we anticipated around 120 students to be enrolled. The concept has come to fruition and we have exceeded our goal with 185 students. The enrollment will only continue to grow due to increased awareness and the development of more programs.”
Another responsibility of Wilkison’s will be maintaining and creating partnerships with local businesses to support the classes.
“None of this would be feasible without the supportive collaboration with the four schools, as well as our community and partnerships that benefit our students,” Wilkison said.
Superintendent Dr. Parker of Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation stated in the press release, “This position perfectly fits Stan with his career goals, experience and skills. To say he has made a significant contribution to expanding CTE courses at Mt. Vernon and in the county would be an understatement…”
