Leon High School Opens College & Career Readiness Center, Giving Students a Launchpad for Life After Graduation
Feb 16, 2026 | LCAN
On January 29, 2026, Leon High School celebrated the grand opening of its new College and Career Readiness Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that drew school leaders, community partners, local officials, and champions of student success from across the region.
The Center was made possible through an ASPIRE Capital Region grant funded by the Florida College Access Network and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation and is designed to be a one-stop space where students can explore careers, build essential skills, plan for postsecondary education, and connect with trusted adults who can help them navigate what comes next after high school.
Seven Years in the Making
The Center represents the culmination of a vision that began seven years ago, when Leon County School Board Chair Marcus Nicolas began rallying community partners around a bold mission: to bridge the gap from opportunity to access for all students in Leon County.
“Opportunities exist in this community far and wide,” Nicolas said at the ceremony. “We have a top-25 research university, the number one HBCU in the country, a top-10 community college, and a fantastic technical college. But there was no bridge to help students get from point A to point B. We need mentors, we need guidance counselors, and we need spaces like this.
Nicolas credited a coalition of partners, including Lively Technical College, Leon County Schools, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and ASPIRE Capital Region, for making the investment that brought the new center to life. The project was inspired in part by a visit to Boca Ciega High School in Pinellas County, where a similar center launched by the LEAP Tampa Bay Local College Access Network demonstrated what was possible.
“A Game-Changer” for Students
Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna, a Leon High School graduate himself, spoke about the personal significance of the moment. He recalled being lost after his father passed away suddenly before his senior year, with no clear plan and no trusted adult to help him figure out what came next.
“I was that guy who walked across the stage and shrugged his shoulders,” Hanna told the crowd. “There wasn’t an opportunity like this for me to sit down with a trusted adult and really talk through what I might do in life.”
Hanna emphasized the urgency of providing this kind of support to today’s students, many of whom face significant challenges at home.
“This is going to be a game changer for a lot of these young students who are really scared about what the future may bring,” he said. “They don’t have to figure out the rest of their life right now. Life’s a long journey. But they just need to figure out what step is next, and this career center is going to help them do just that.”
Hanna called the Leon High center a pilot for what he hopes will expand to all high schools across the district.
Why These Spaces Matter
Kimberly Krupa, Director of Network Engagement and Communications with FCAN, noted that the new center is part of a growing statewide movement to create dedicated college and career readiness spaces inside high schools.
“We know that opportunity in our community is not distributed evenly across all students, so these spaces really matter,” Krupa said. “These are protected spaces where students can come in and get guidance on all pathways — technical certifications, two-year and four-year degrees, the military, apprenticeships — from trusted advisors with structured processes.”
Krupa pointed to measurable outcomes at schools across Florida that have opened similar centers: increases in FAFSA completion, upticks in students passing military entrance exams, and more young people discovering career pathways they didn’t know existed.
“Without these spaces, we often see students floundering,” she said. “Coming in here, being able to get support to plan their future, that’s what these spaces are all about.”
Building on Momentum
The Leon High School center is the first college and career readiness center launched by ASPIRE Capital Region. The center is part of a replicable model that ASPIRE and its partners are working to scale across additional Leon County high schools in the 2026–2027 school year, with support from regional partners and Title I resources.
The model mirrors successful centers in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Sarasota counties, all launched by Florida LCANs, that have demonstrated the power of bringing centralized college and career resources, dedicated staff, and community partnerships directly into school buildings.
A Community Investment
Corrie Melton, Vice President of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, underscored the role of cross-sector collaboration in making the center a reality.
“When schools, community partners, and employers work together, we create real pathways that help students see what’s possible and take confident steps toward their future,” Melton said.
Principal Scotty Crowe put it simply: “This space will help our students explore what’s next, connect their interests to real opportunities, and feel supported as they plan for life beyond high school.”
The College and Career Readiness Center at Leon High School was funded through an ASPIRE Capital Region grant from the Florida College Access Network and the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation as part of the Post-High School College Enrollment Innovation Grant program.
