Changing lives by changing outcomes
Every year, EVIT tracks the outcomes of students who completed their training and graduated the previous year. Tracking the Class of 2019 proved more difficult this year due to COVID-19 and the shutdown of our campuses in the spring. But out of 1,150 completers, we located 924 alumni or 80 percent. Based on that sample, EVIT students have a 98 percent high school graduation rate, 68 percent go on to college or other post-secondary training, 43 percent are employed in jobs related to their EVIT training and 3 percent enter the military. Nearly 400 employers, almost all of them located in Arizona, hired EVIT program completers from the Class of 2019, including Banner Health, which hired 23 students from EVIT’s health occupation programs. Overall, the Class of 2019 completers had a 94 percent placement rate. While those are good stats, we want them to be better and have made it a priority this year to improve outcomes because EVIT has huge potential to be a life-changer for students and major contributor to workforce development in Arizona.

Commitment to safety
EVIT central campuses have been open for in-person learning since Aug. 17, and since then, thankfully, we have had a minimal number of positive COVID cases. We realize that as more of our sending high schools begin in-person learning on their campuses and as there are more holiday breaks, there will be an increased likelihood of positive COVID cases at EVIT. We have always known that there will be COVID on our campuses; our protocols are intended to contain the spread of the virus, and based on the first quarter, they appear to be working. This is due to the commitment of our students, parents and staff to make EVIT as safe as possible for in-person learning.

Transparency and COVID
We feel it is important to be as honest and transparent with our families and employees about COVID cases at EVIT as privacy laws will allow. So we have set up a special page on our website – www.evit.com/covid19 -- that is updated every Friday afternoon with the current number of cases. EVIT continues to work with the Maricopa County Public Health Department in the reporting and tracing of cases.

News parents can use
EVIT has started a new monthly newsletter for parents that will provide them with information they can use to help ensure their students get the most out of their career and technical education. For instance, many parents don’t realize that EVIT is not only an alternative to college for some students – but also a jump-start to college or other post-secondary training for others. Our first newsletter explains the many ways students can earn college credit while at EVIT, from dual enrollment at community colleges to special partnerships with post-secondary schools like Pima Medical Institute. Check out our first EVIT News Parents Can Use: https://bit.ly/evitparents1020.