Career Magnet Academy celebrates a decade of academic achievement

Graduates of the Career Magnet Academy

Prior to entering high school, Knoxville native Tucker Riley had only heard rumblings about the Career Magnet Academy – the magnet school located on 汤头条’s Strawberry Plains campus.

But when Riley learned he could attend Career Magnet Academy and graduate in four years with both his high school diploma and associate degree in hand, it seemed like a no-brainer.

“That eighth-grade year, I was like, ‘You know what? This is something I want to do. I think it'll set me up nicely,’” Riley said. “And the rest was history.”

Riley, who graduated from both Pellissippi State and the Career Magnet Academy in 2023 and is now a senior at the University of Tennessee, said his simultaneous learning at both the high school and Pellissippi State has been “pivotal.”

“That exposure to stuff you don’t think you’re going to have in high school, you do have at Career Magnet,” he said. “And I think that it was just super great to have that, and I was better prepared going to UT.”

The Career Magnet Academy, celebrating its 10th anniversary throughout 2024-25, was established so students could work simultaneously toward their high school and two-year college degrees.

The Career Magnet Academy opened at Pellissippi’s Strawberry Plains campus just a few years after the campus itself, in a partnership with Knox County Schools that Campus Dean Mike North called extremely unique.

It’s an attractive concept to students because they can walk away with an associate degree at 18 years old, North said. It’s also beneficial in that it saves students and their parents the financial burden of starting a college degree after high school.

“A lot of students in Career Magnet Academy didn't want a traditional high school experience,” North said. “They wanted to come and be in a college environment, because they felt like that's something that they were ready for. It’s an opportunity to get students on an accelerated path because it’s something that they want.”

The school’s growth and success over the last 10 years is evident in its hallways, where students get to sign their name on the wall each time they achieve a milestone number of college courses.

In the same hall, the number of students from each class who graduated with an associate degree in addition to their diploma are recognized. In 2018, only one student graduated with an associate degree.

That number grew to nearly two dozen in 2024.

“Our goal is just to build a foundation for the students to become scholars, and make sure they are equipped to be successful when they get upstairs,” said Career Magnet Academy Principal Charlene Lewis, who added that more than 60 students started taking college courses in this year’s sophomore class alone.

The school is different from its peers due to its smaller size, Lewis said, which allows students to focus on academics and participate in nontraditional clubs – including one for Dungeons and Dragons or another for American Sign Language.

“Everybody's going for the same thing,” Lewis said. “And it's really not competitive. Everybody wants to go upstairs. And everyone wants to be part of Pellissippi.”

Lewis described her partnership with North and Pellissippi State as “amazing,” emphasizing that instructors at Pellissippi State treat her students like any other – encouraging them, holding them accountable and challenging them.

Dual Enrollment students from Career Magnet Academy account for about 40% of the overall student population at Pellissippi’s Strawberry Plains campus.

“We're the best kept secret in Knox County,” Lewis said. “We are the only school in Knoxville where a student can graduate with an associate degree. You can go anywhere and get as many dual-enrollment credits as you want, but you cannot graduate with an associate degree.”

For Riley, the physical proximity of Career Magnet Academy and Pellissippi helped temper his expectations for college.

The rigor placed on students at the school made his college classes “a walk in the park,” Riley said.

“I think all the teachers, both at Career Magnet and of course at Pellissippi State – they want you to do good, and they push you to be better,” he said. “They push us to be the best students we can be.”

Going forward, Lewis said, she hopes the Career Magnet Academy can continue to be a model for the early college experience to students and also a place where they can develop and grow who they are, as they become scholars.

“I always tell them to be the best version of you,” she said. “I want you to work hard. I want you to be dedicated and be a responsible student, and we'll handle the rest. Trust the process.”

This spring, North estimated around two dozen Career Magnet Academy students will graduate in Pellissippi State’s Commencement before receiving their high school diploma a few weeks later.

“That's the big payoff,” North said. “That to me is the most rewarding thing.”

Career Magnet Academy’s student population alone has almost doubled, to 350, since its start a decade ago. And, as the school celebrates its 10th anniversary, Pellissippi State is celebrating its 50th.

“I've been at Pellissippi State for more than 30 of its 50 years,” North said. “And this is the most unique project that that I've ever been involved in. It's special because the Career Magnet Academy has an opportunity to not only take college classes but actually be here on a college campus. They interact with other college students and college faculty from day one.”

Riley is just one Career Magnet Academy alumnus who’s a prime example of what the high school and Pellissippi State have accomplished, North said. Riley is on track to graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the fall at just 20 years old. From there, he hopes to go to law school and eventually practice natural-resource law

He’s grateful to have been a part of cultivating the culture and community that has fueled the school’s growth, Riley said.

“I was honored to be here four years for high school and truly partake in a good and foundational academic experience,” he said. “And I think to know that Career Magnet has been a part of Pellissippi’s history for 10 years of their existence is pretty cool.”