Nearly 800 students earned workforce credentials Tuesday from Miami-Dade County Public Schools' seven technical colleges, completing programs in fields like aviation maintenance, welding, health care, culinary arts, and information technology.
School Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas, who represents District 6 covering Coral Gables, South Miami, and Key Biscayne, celebrated the 779 graduates on social media, calling them prepared "for successful careers in high-demand industries."
Superintendent Dr. Jose L. Dotres called the class "historic" in an Instagram post, saying graduates across all seven campuses are prepared to contribute immediately to the regional economy.
The colleges (D.A. Dorsey, George T. Baker Aviation, Lindsey Hopkins, Miami Lakes Educational Center, Robert Morgan Educational Center, South Dade, and The English Center) offer career technical education programs leading to industry certifications. Graduates can transition directly into the workforce without a four-year degree.
Local pipeline growing
The graduation caps a stretch of investment in career-technical pathways feeding the Coral Gables and South Miami area. On Monday, July 20, M-DCPS cut the ribbon on a new Career Dual Enrollment Medical Assisting Lab at South Miami Senior High School, run in partnership with South Dade Technical College. About 80 students will enroll when the 2026-27 school year starts Thursday, Aug. 13.
"This partnership will give these students the skills and opportunities to become certified and to work in healthcare, an industry not only in demand but critical to our community," Assistant Superintendent for Postsecondary Career and Technical Education René Mantilla said at the July 20 ribbon-cutting.
Incoming 10th-grader Enzo Ramirez, who will join the South Miami Senior High program, put it simply at the same event: "What we did before was mostly theory. But now we're going to draw blood, use a stethoscope, and take blood pressure."
Coral Gables Senior High School also runs a NAF Distinguished Finance Academy, one of 51 nationally recognized career academies across M-DCPS and the most of any school district in the country. In February, D.A. Dorsey Technical College opened a new Computer Systems and Information Technology lab, expanding from about seven computers to more than 25 with state workforce development grant funding.
