While many seniors leave school early due to dual-enroll, or work program, after fourth or fifth hour, senior Jeff Graflage gets to leave for tech school after third.

A typical school day for Graflage consists of coming to school at 7:20 a.m., taking three classes, and then leaving at 10:06 a.m. for tech school.

Graflage attends Lewis and Clark Career Center, along with other high school students. He has been attending since his junior year.

“I like being able to leave early,” Graflage said. “I’ve never been very good at regular school work, I do so much better with hands on type of work that I get to do at tech school.”

Not only does Graflage get real life experience from working and learning at tech school, but he also gets credit at Howell for going.

“My favorite part of it is all of the hands on work I get to do,” Graflage said.

He is able to work on cars in a shop at tech school. Learning how to paint cars, pull dents out, and much more for an auto related career. He also works on actual customer’s cars, painting their fenders and bumper covers.

“I want to become a painter in the auto collision field, so tech school is helping me get a head start on my career,” Graflage said.

Tech school helps their students find jobs once they finish the program, supplying them with applications, and aiding them in the job seeking process.

“Tech school is helping me find a job for after I graduate,” Graflage said. “They set up a lot of career fairs so that I can explore my options while still in school.”