The Shelby County College and Career Center will be changing its name to the Career Technical Educational Center after the Shelby County Board of Education voted to approve the change at its July 27 meeting. The shortened name for the school will be CTEC.

This is the second name change for the school, which was previously known as the Shelby County School of Technology. The name was changed to the Shelby County College in Career Center in 2014 to emphasize the fact that the school offers students multiple pathways to both college and careers.  However, the new name created some confusion in the community particularly for those who thought the word “college” implied it was a school for adults seeking college or career training.

Principal Zachary McWhorter, said the school was receiving numerous phone calls each day from adults seeking information for college courses, not realizing the school is a high school.

“The front desk currently gets calls every day inquiring about college courses and tuition prices not knowing that the school is a high school. Businesses also call to ask about hiring prospective college graduates,” McWhorter said. “Taking the word ‘college’ out of the school name will make it clear this is not a post-secondary institution.”

Julie Godfrey, Supervisor of Career Technical Education, said career and technical courses have always been the main focus of the centralized campus, which serves students from all Shelby County high schools. The new name is timeless and simplistic and more representative of what is offered at the school.

In addition to the name change, the school will also get a newly designed logo highlighting the abbreviated “CTEC” which also features symbols of the various types of career training offered.

“To create unity within the Shelby County School District, a strategic school name is important,” Godfrey said. “Career Technical Educational Center clarifies the courses designed to prepare students for post-secondary and/or going straight into the workforce that the school offers. The logo matches the theme of Shelby County Schools as this career technical school is one pathway to prepare students for their journey.”