When the local career and technical education facility opened in the 1970s, the name was certainly a mouthful — The Escambia-Brewton Area Vocational Center.

As times changed, so did the name with the facility adopted the name Escambia-Brewton Career Technical Center.

Times have continued to change and so has the plan to update offerings for students looking to enter a career or college upon graduation from high school. If you travel down Pea Ridge Road to the facility that is settling into its latest name change, you’ll see a welcome sign touting the location of the Escambia Career Readiness Center.

Principal David Lanier said the name change is certainly a step in a direction to unify the efforts of the staff for the students the center serves.

“We didn’t just change the name because we wanted to change it,” Lanier said. “We changed the name to give students and the community a better idea of what we do here.”

Lanier said the change is also in keeping with a plan already in place by Alabama State Department of Education Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice.

“Everyone involved had some discussions about the name change,” Lanier said. “We serve students from Brewton City School’s system and the Escambia County School’s system. That’s why the name has used both the city and county names. Everyone agreed the name would be better for the community and for the students.”

Lanier said Brewton City School Superintendent Lynn Smith was the person who said dropping Brewton from the name of the center just made sense. “

He told us that all of the students here are Escambia County residents,” Lanier said. “It really does make sense that this facility prepares all county students for a career or college — that’s what we’re here to do.”

In addition to a name change, Lanier said the incorporation of a new class and the retiring of an old class is another sign that times are changing. “We retired a class and began a new one that will allow students to be ready for a career when they complete the course,” Lanier said. “Some of our courses didn’t do that and we’re moving in a direction to have students leave here ready to work. Right now we offer a students interested in healthcare a chance to become a certified nursing assistant through our allied health classes. With the Law, Public Safety, Correcitons and Security cluster of classes now in place, we have a chance to give students a chance to be ready for work in a different area. We’re beginning with the fire science and emergency management technician classes and will get some students ready to join the workforce when they leave here — and they’ll be certified.”

Lanier said he hopes that more business leaders will be able to use and recognize the opportunities given to students at the Escambia Career Readiness Center.

“Everything we do is to meet the educational, career and college prep needs for the students we serve,” Lanier said. “When we can do that and help meet the needs of business people in this community, we have done our job.”