Collegiate High Schools to Launch Biomedical Engineering Technology Academy

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Petersburg Collegiate High Schools will open a new academy devoted to biomedical engineering technology (BMET) at the St. Petersburg College Tarpon Springs Campus in Fall 2023. BMET Academy students can complete an Associate in Science in Biomedical Engineering Technology while simultaneously earning their high school diploma – completely free of charge.

Funded by a Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant, the A.S. degree trains students to meet the growing need for biomedical equipment repairers, who maintain the sophisticated medical devices that patients' lives depend on. The BMET Academy will help build a pipeline of personnel for health care, industry, research and educational institutions. 

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

Academy graduates will be prepared for careers in a hot job market, where they can earn an average salary of $49,910 in the United States, $47,130 in Florida, and $46,620 in the Tampa Bay area. 

"It's called 'critical needs' for a reason, and these are good-paying jobs," said 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 charter school in 2004 at the college's St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus. A North Pinellas County option in Tarpon Springs, Florida, was opened in 2019, and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math High School at the college'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," said Ryan Halstead, Principal of Collegiate High Schools North Pinellas.

The A.S. degree includes three optional stand-alone certificates, depending on the student's focus, and transfers to SPC's bachelor's degree 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 material was fully funded by the $9 million federally funded CRRSA ESSER II – Future Florida Critical Workforce Needs Grant. 

For more information, contact Rita Farlow, AVP, Marketing and Strategic Communications, 727-302-6526.

SOURCE St. Petersburg College