
Florida’s only STEM-focused state university has landed on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Engineering Colleges Without a Ph.D. list for the first time, ranking No. 72 out of 220 schools across the nation. In its sixth year, Florida Polytechnic University is the only undergraduate engineering program in the state to appear in this category, […]

CareerSource Polk is using a $2.5 million grant from the Polk County Board of County Commissioners to help put people back to work during the pandemic. The money is part of $126 million the county received as part of the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant. The county used some […]

CareerSource Polk, which oversees the state and federal funds dedicated to preparing and upgrading a skilled workforce, is working with young people ages 16 to 24, introducing them to the workplace and preparing them to become the leaders of tomorrow. Whether they want to earn their GED, start working or nab their first internship, students […]

Local school officials and community leaders continue working with students and encouraging them to graduate high school, a premise at the heart of improving the graduation rate in Polk County. That number increased from 86.5 percent to 88.8 percent in 2018-19 among Polk County’s 14 traditional public high schools. “Improving the graduation rate equates to […]

As Polk County continues to focus on education, it’s seeing results: More teenagers are graduating from high school, and more residents have college degrees. The Florida College Access Network, an organization of community leaders that Polk County joined to improve talent development, and the Talent Pipeline Committee, formed by Polk Vision and the Central Florida […]

When AdventHealth predicted it was going to need additional face shields for members of its medical staff treating coronavirus patients, it turned to Florida Polytechnic University for help. That was three weeks ago. Now, students and staff are using 3D printers to make headbands for 4,000 shields. After working out details like a memorandum of […]

Keeping up with demand at a school dedicated to students with dyslexia, Florida Southern College is constructing its third building, this one to educate middle-school students in The Roberts Academy. The groundbreaking on March 9 means construction is now underway on the building, which will include mathematics and science labs when it opens in August […]

Leaders at Florida Southern College’s new Justice Teaching Center for Civic Learning hope the lessons it’s bringing to students across the state create an active, engaged, civic-minded population that understands justice, the courts and the Constitution. “The center continues to improve civic learning opportunities in Florida through effective law-focused partnerships, programs and resources,” said Annette […]

To keep up with a technologically advancing world, Florida Southern College has added three new majors to its ever-growing computer sciences program. During a curriculum revision, the Florida Southern College identified three areas that are deemed critical skills needed by today’s graduating students: cybersecurity, machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as web and cloud […]

Polk County Public School grad and first generation college student inspired by mothers’ enjoyment of numbers and favorite high school class – Algebra. “When my mother was younger, her dream job in Mexico was to be an accountant for a big company,” said Jacquelin Flores, 19. “Although my mother could not continue her education, I […]